INFLUENCE OF EMPLOYEE MOTIVATION ON PERFORMANCE IN SELECTED RESEARCH INSTITUTIONS IN NAIROBI CITY COUNTY, KENYA
Grace Muthoni Mwabu - Master of Science (Human Resource Management), Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Kenya
Dr. Susan Were (PhD) - Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Kenya
ABSTRACT
In this competitive era, Institutes are focusing on developing their workforce and improving performance in their Institutions. One of the tools available to a manager for motivating and influencing the employees is rewarding and promoting them. Many Institutes have realized the importance of attracting and retaining highly skilled, quality employees as a necessary component of their competitive advantage. The purpose of the study was to investigate the influence of employee motivation on work performance in selected research institutes in Nairobi City County. The target population was management personnel: directors, middle-level management managers, and lower-level managers from Kenya Agricultural & Livestock Research Organization and Kenya Medical Research Institute. The target interviewees were 356 respondents, of whom 96 were from Kenya Agricultural & Livestock Research Organization and 260 from Kenya Medical Research Institute. A total of 51 respondents were sampled from Kenya Agricultural & Livestock Research Organization and 137 respondents were sampled from Kenya Medical Research Institute, comprising a sample size of 188. The study used stratified random sampling technique in choosing the sample sizes. The data was collected using questionnaires which were self-administered to the respondents by the researcher by use of drop and pick later method. Quantitative data obtained were analyzed using SPSS (Version, 21). Correlation and regressions methods were used to examine the relationship between the dependent and independent variables. Data were presented in bar charts, graphs and pie charts. Quantitative data was presented in form of frequency distribution tables, pie charts and bar graphs. The study findings indicated that reward management, career growth, work environment and training and development have a positive and significant influence on performance. The study findings led to the conclusion that an increase in reward management practices such as salary, allowances, benefits and bonuses increase in performance. The study further concludes that an improvement in training and development practices involving training programs, training design, induction process and training techniques leads to a better execution of tasks. Another conclusion from the study was that an improvement in work environment practices, such as improvement in equipments, adequacy of resources, health & safety measures as well as security improves performance. Moreover, improvement in career growth practices such as training of employees, employee workshops, availability of career advancement opportunities and study sponsorship programmes leads to an increase in performance.