Personality traits and employee motivation in government institutions; Case Study: Inspectorate of Government

Abstract

The study examined the effect of personality traits on employee motivation. The study was based on the following research objectives; to establish the effect of Conscientiousness on motivation of employees, to find out the effect of Neuroticism on motivation of employees and to establish the effect of Extraversion on motivation of employees at the Inspectorate of Government. The study adopted a case study design and a triangulation (quantitative and Qualitative) approach was used. In total, a sample of 148 respondents was used in the study. The data collection methods used were questionnaires, interview guide and documentary review. The data was analyzed using SPSS version 17.0, cross tabulation, descriptive statistics, correlation and regressions analysis. The findings of the study reveal that there is a positive significant relationship between Conscientiousness and employee motivation at the Inspectorate of Government, it also establishes that there is a negative significant relationship between Neuroticism and employee motivation and lastly it was further established that there is positive significant relationship between extroversion and employee motivation. The study concluded that there is a relationship between personality traits and employee motivation. Further still the study concluded that personality traits (Conscientiousness, Neuroticism, and Extroversion) affect employee motivation. The study therefore recommended that management at the Inspectorate of Government should always consider personality traits of their staff at recruitment, appraisal and when designing motivation packages.