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102
Colombo Journal of Advanced Research Vol. 1, No. 1; 2019
Factors Influencing Employee Performance in a Leading
Conglomerate in Sri Lanka
Shakoor Dahlan, University of West London, e-mail: [email protected]
Jayantha Dewasiri, ANC Sri Lanka, Overseas Academic Partner – University of West
London
Abstract
This research looks at the factors influencing employee performance at one of the largest
conglomerates in Sri Lanka. Three factors; namely, motivation, training and employee
engagement were examined as factors that influence employee performance. A quantitative
approach was utilized for this study with random sampling technique. A sample of 150
respondents across eight sectors: Leisure, Property, Consumer Foods and Retail,
Information Technology, Transportation, Financial Services, Plantation, and Centre
Functions provided information for this research. A bivariate and multiple regression
analysis were conducted for the data collected and it provided useful information on the
influence of these variables on employee performance. Based on both the analysis, it was
identified that all three variables have a relationship with employee performance and that
motivation has the strongest influence on an employee’s performance.
Keywords: employee performance, motivation, training, employee engagement
1. Introduction
1.1 Background
Landscape of the business world is largely changing due to the advancements in
technology, seamless connectivity, and societal pressure. This demands any business
organization to be in par with the best in the world (Muda, et al., 2014). Thus, companies
are focusing on developing competitive strategies to utilize the resources to stay ahead of
the curve (Johnson, et al., 2008). Regardless of the strategies, proper execution relies
mainly on the employees. If the employees can perform at their best, the organization can
be successful in reaping the benefits of such strategies. Hence, it is crucial for organizations
to focus on their employee’s performance.
Performance is linked to the output of any employee in terms of quantity, quality, timelines,
presence on the job, efficiency, and effectiveness of the work completed (Mathis, et al.,
2015). Employee performance can be defined as the successful completion of a task by an
individual, measured by the organization to check if it is up to the required standard with
effective and efficient usage of the organization’s resources (Armstrong & Murlis, 2004).
Thus, employee performance is simply undertaking a responsibility aiming to achieve
success to the organization. Top performing employees are usually committed to the
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Colombo Journal of Advanced Research Vol. 1, No. 1; 2019
company and are regarded as willing to build and maintain the goals of the employer
(Argyris, 1998). According to (Cardy, 2004), performance of an individual is dependent
on organizational policies, practices, and the external environment. It is vital for
organizations to focus on factors that impact performances of employees to manage them
effectively. This will in turn result in enhanced overall performance of the organization.
The Sri Lankan economy has been growing rapidly during the post war period and the
Gross Domestic Product growth rate has been growing at an average of 5.88% since 2003,
indicating an expansion of all the industries (Mathew, 2017). This has led to the fulfilled
labor demand in the country to increase by 3.7 percent to 8.12 million in the first half of
2017 compared with the figure of 7.89 million in 2016 (Central Bank of Sri Lanka, 2017).
This indicates that the economy is expanding with large investments coming into the
country. This has led to growth in employee force, but it has been identified that companies
are finding it difficult to recruit desired level of employees due to the lack of skills or
knowledge. Thus, there is a need for companies to retain their employees and ensure that
they perform at their best. Hence, the companies are shifting their focus to improve
employee performance.
Employee performance is critical for an organization as it directly influences the growth of
the organization. As suggested by (Murphy, 1989), it is the set of behaviors that is relevant
to achieving organizational goals. This functions as a key element in work and
organizational psychology and has a high influence on the company’s overall performance
(Sonnentag & Frese, 2002) (Zacher, 2009). However individual job performance is not
constant as it could deviate over time. Literature has identified that performance changes
based on the time spent on the job and learning. Further, performance is an important part
in human resource management as it enables the organization to identify the behavior and
conduct of an individual (Motowidlo, et al., 1997). Literature suggests that employee
performance is a key indicator in measuring the effectiveness of human resource
management in an organization and the overall organizational performance. Thus,
performing employees will deliver the economic success and the reputation desired by the
organization (Ferguson & Reio, 2010). Thus, it is key to identify the factors that influence
employee performance in any organization to mitigate such factors and improve
performance.
1.2 Research Problem
Till the early 1980’s, performance was understood as the output of a combination of ability
and motivation with relevant resources and this lead to management focusing mostly on
motivating the employees (Torrington, et al., 2008). According to (Willcoxson, 2000),
there are two high performance approaches, including a humanistic approach and a
rationale process approach. Hence, it is important for organizations to understand that there
are many other factors that impact performance. According to (Cameron & Pierce, 1996),
promotions, benefits, and pay as the key tools to retain the best employees and ensure that
they perform. Through review of literature it can be identified that, the employee
performance has been widely studied in relation with many factors due to its importance
to an organization.
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Colombo Journal of Advanced Research Vol. 1, No. 1; 2019
A study conducted by (Pawirosumarto, et al., 2016), has looked at how leadership style,
motivation and discipline influence an employee’s performance with regards to an
organization in Indonesia. Based on the findings of this study, it suggests that there is a
positive and significant influence of these factors on performance. Further, this study has
identified that discipline has the strongest influence based on the findings. Another study
conducted by (Muda, et al., 2014), has studied how job stress, motivation and
communication influence employee performance. Similarly, it has been identified that
these factors have an influence on employee performance. (Thao & Hwang , 2015) have
looked at multiple variables such as leadership, organizational culture, working
environment, motivation and training, and its impact on the employee performance.
Based on the analysis, the researcher has concluded that leadership, motivation and training
have a direct influence towards employee performance. Further, (Anitha, 2014) has studied
the determinants of employee engagement and the influence engagement has on employee
performance. According to this research findings, employee engagement has a significant
impact on performance. Thus, it is evident through these empirical studies that these factors
have an impact on employee’s performance. It is clear through research that there have not
been significant studies conducted in the Sri Lankan context to identify such factors
influencing employee performance.
The researcher intends to identify the influence, motivation, training and employee
engagement has on the employee performance with relation to a conglomerate based in Sri
Lanka. Motive for the researcher to conduct this study is to understand the magnitude of
the influence these factors have on employee performance with relation to the employees
of a leading conglomerate. Further, these three variables were selected due to the lack of
studies conducted with consideration to these three elements: motivation, employee
engagement and training. Thus, the following research questions were derived;
1. How can you measure employee performance and what is the relevance of it?
2. Does motivation, training and employee engagement contribute towards employee
performance?
3. What is the impact of motivation on employee performance?
4. What is the impact of training on employee perfomance?
5. What is the impact of employee engagement on employee performance?
1.3 Literature Review
Performance is a multi-component idea and on the crucial level one can recognize the
procedure part of execution, that is, behavioral engagement from an expected outcome
(Borman & Motowidlo, 1993) (Campbell, et al., 1996) (Roe, 1999). In a working
environment, the behavioral engagement and anticipated outcome are connected to each
other (Borman & Motowidlo, 1993), yet the complete cover between both the develops are
not clear yet, as the expected result is influenced by components, for example, motivation
and cognitive abilities than the social viewpoint. Performance in the form of task
performance comprises of job explicit behaviors which includes fundamental job
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Colombo Journal of Advanced Research Vol. 1, No. 1; 2019
responsibilities assigned as part of job description. It is further argued that, task
performance primarily requires cognitive ability and that this is facilitated through job
knowledge, job skills, and task habits. Hence, employee performance is related to the
ability of handling multiple tasks through acquired technical skills and principles, ability
to achieve tasks through applying technical skills without much supervision and the
personal habits to communicate and respond according to the working conditions (Conway,
1999). Thus, the primarily existed idea of performance is the ability to do the job and the
prior experiences of the individual (Pradhan & Jena, 2017).
Considering an organization or a work environment, employee performance is a
contractual understanding between the manager and the subordinate to achieve a set
objective. These task performances are categorized further into two main categories such
as technical-administrative task performance and the leadership task performance.
Technical-administrative performance is the expected performance of an employee such as
planning, organizing and doing the day to day work through application of technical skills.
Leadership task performance is in contrast the ability to set strategic goals by maintaining
a required work standard, providing direction to the subordinates and motivating them to
achieve their tasks through necessary encouragement, recognition and constructive
criticisms (Borman & Brush, 1993),(Tripathy, et al., 2014),(Pradhan & Jena, 2017).
According to (Borman & Motowidlo, 1997), task performance is the “effectiveness with
which employees execute their assigned tasks, that realizes the fulfillment of organization’s
vision while rewarding organization and individual proportionately.” Further, (Werner,
1994) suggests that task performance is “the demonstrated skill and behavior that
influences the direct production of goods or service, or any kind of activities that provides
indirect support to organization’s core technical processes.” Thus, task performance is
simply the ability of an individual to perform their job by utilizing their skills to achieve
the organization’s goals.
On the other hand, adaptive performance is the ability of an employee to acclimatize and
provide necessary support to the work profile in a dynamic situation (Hesketh & Neal,
1999). Previous studies have identified that if the employees master and derive a certain
amount of perfection in their tasks, they adapt their attitudes and behavior to various
requirements of their job roles (Huang, et al., 2014) (Pulakos, et al., 2000). Further, it is
argued that contextual performance should consist of sub-dimensions such as teamwork,
allegiance, and determination. The contextual performance is the feeling and the viewpoint
the employee embraces about the colleagues which is known as the team spirit. This is key
to an organizational performance as it enables the employees to share their issues and
problems willingly and freely with each other in the organization (Jaworski & Kohli, 1993)
(Jones, et al., 2007) (William, et al., 2005), and earlier researchers have advocated that
growth in team spirit results in better employee performance (Alie, et al., 1998), (Boyt, et
al., 2001). Simply put, contextual performance is attitude towards work, volunteering for
work outside of one’s scope, maintaining enthusiasm at work, blending well with others,
clearly communicating critical resources and information for organizational development
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Colombo Journal of Advanced Research Vol. 1, No. 1; 2019
and supporting organizational strategy for better change (Coleman & Borman, 2000)
(Motowidlo & Schmit, 1999). Thus, behavior of such nature contributes to aiding
individual performance, as well as organizational performance.
According to (Kanfer, 1990), motivation is the “psychological forces that determine the
direction of a person’s level of effort and a person’s level of persistence in the face of
obstacles.” Further, (DeCenzo & Stephen, 2001) define motivation as the willingness or
desire to do work with the condition of satisfying some needs. Thus, motivation is the
concept of a person taking part in an activity or work due to direction or satisfaction. There
have been many studies conducted on employee motivation and organizations that has put
much effort in identifying ways to motivate the employees as they have realized the
importance of motivated employees. Motivated employees relate to the manners of self-
satisfaction, self-fulfillment and commitment that are expected to produce quality work
output and engagement with organizational goals that will in turn result in improved
efficiencies and competitive advantage (Muda, et al., 2014). It is argued by (Kamery, 2004)
(Ekerman, 2006), that motivation increases job engagement by making work more
meaningful and interesting which results in improved productivity and performance.
According to the Expectancy Model of Motivation, motivation leads to improved employee
performance. This framework provides a clear view of the contribution of motivation
towards performance. Thus, the author will work based on this model to understand the
influence of motivation towards employee performance.
Training has been recognized as one of the key functions of Human Resource Management
(HRM) due to its contribution on improved employee performance at organizations. Thus,
(Gordon, 1992) defines training as an activity that is planned in a systematic way to instill
enhanced level of skill, knowledge and competency necessary to perform tasks effectively
in an organization to achieve desired level of outcome. Development, on the other hand, is
a continuous activity that focuses on preparing employees for changes or a new job role in
the future (McNamara, 2008).
Importance of training has been eminent in recent years due to the investments utilized by
organizations on training their employees. This is mainly due to the increased competition
and the evolutionary change in technology (Beardwell, et al., 2004). It is important to
increase the knowledge, skills and capabilities of employees to ensure that they perform at
their best to reap the maximum output. This is usually obtained by providing well curated
training to the employees based on proper understanding of the requirement of the
organization and the status of their employees (Meyer, & Allen, 1991) (McKinsey , 2006).
Further, when employees recognize the efforts put in by the organization to provide
training programs, they understand the importance of it and become more engaged to make
the maximum out of the training and apply the knowledge and competence gained from
such programs which in turn will align with the organizations desired objectives (Elnaga
& Imran, 2013).
Employee engagement is relatively a new concept in the HRM spectrum and has limited
academic recognition about engagement alone as a concept (Rafferty, et al., 2005)
(Meclrum, 2005) (Ellis & Sorensen, 2007). Engagement is a result of two concepts known
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Colombo Journal of Advanced Research Vol. 1, No. 1; 2019
as commitment and Organizational Citizen Behavior (OCB) (Robinson , et al., 2004),
(Rafferty, et al., 2005), and both concepts are reflected in employee engagement. In
addition to this, employee engagement further consists of the two-way mutual process
between the employee and the employer. Currently, there is no generalized single
definition for employee engagement. (Robinson , et al., 2004) as cited by (Markos &
Sridevi, 2010) recognizes employee engagement as “a positive attitude held by the
employee towards the organization and its value. The organization must work to develop
and nurture engagement, which requires a two-way relationship between employer and
employee.” Thus, employee engagement requires commitment from both the employee and
the employer. May et. al (2014) has developed to measure engagement in workplace
through derivation of Kahn’s Engagement Theory that focuses on measuring employee
engagement through physical, cognitive and emotional aspects. Further, (Soane, et al.,
2012) has developed a model of engagement based on three requirements such as work-
role focus, activation and positive impact which has been operationalized in a new measure,
the Intellectual, Social and Affective Engagement Scale (ISA). Author intends to test the
employee engagement aspect of the research by identifying the engagement of the
employees at the selected organization based on both aforementioned models.
1.4 Hypotheses Development
The author intends to focus on motivation, training and employee engagement and its
influence on employee performance. The next sub-sections will critically analyze empirical
findings that are directly related to the select variables of this study.
Motivation and its link to employee performance is looked at in many ways. Shazadi et. al.
(2014), has investigated the factors that influence employee motivation and further how
this influences an employee’s performance in an organization, while studying a sample of
teachers from private and government schools. According to the researcher’s findings, it
was identified that there is not much effect on the motivation of the employees through
training due to its inadequacy to meet the required standards of the users, but it was
identified that there is a significant and positive relationship between motivation and
performance (Shazadi, et al., 2014). The author has looked at motivation in terms of the
intrinsic rewards: thus, looking at how the organization culture has instilled internal motive
to get things done through the environment, values and culture. Another study, conducted
by (Nduka, 2016), looks at the same but the motivational factors are looked at basing
Maslow’s and Herzberg’s theories. According to the findings of this study, it was identified
that there’s a relationship between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and that intrinsic
motivation has more significant impact on employee performance rather than extrinsic
motivation. Thus, proving that external factors alone such as salary and incentives does not
necessarily impact employee performance.
Hypothesis 1: Motivation has an impact on employee performance
Training is an essential aspect for employees in organizations as it is meant to provide the
required knowledge and skills to perform the job. Extensive research has been conducted
on this from a Human Resource Management aspect but very less has focused on training
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Colombo Journal of Advanced Research Vol. 1, No. 1; 2019
alone and its impact on employee performance. Nassazi (2013) has conducted a study on
the impact of training on employee performance in organization in a developing country.
The researcher has focused solely on the training available in the industry, objective of the
training, methods in which it is offered and its impact on the employee performance. Based
on his findings, it was concluded that training has a significant impact on employee
performance. Further, when considering training it is important to identify the methods in
which it could be provided, such as job rotation and transfers, coaching or mentoring,
orientation programs, conferences, role playing, formal training courses and e learning
modules (Mccourt & Eldridge, 2003) (Torrington, et al., 2005) (Devanna , et al., 1984)
Similarly, A study conducted by (Farooq & Khan, 2011), has shown the positive
correlation between training and employee performance through a sample of
telecommunication company employees. Further, a study conducted by (Aboyassin &
Sultan, 2017) has identified training as a good indicator to measure employee performance
based on the findings.
Hypothesis 2: Training has an influence on employee performance
Employee engagement is not something that has been independently researched on relating
to employee performance. It is comparatively a new term derived from commitment and
satisfaction. According to a study conducted by (Markos & Sridevi, 2010), employee
engagement is a strong predictor of performance. Based on the findings Markos and Sridevi
(2010) have concluded that companies with engaged employees have low turnover rate,
increased productivity, growth and customer satisfaction. Further, it was identified that it
has a positive correlation on employee performance. A study conducted by (Anitha, 2014)
has looked at the key determinants of engagement and its impact on employee
performance. The researcher’s findings based on a sample of lower to middle management
employees in an organization derived that all the factors considered as drivers for
engagement had a positive correlation for employee performance. Thus, it was concluded
that employee engagement plays a huge role in measuring performance. Similarly,
(Bedarkar & Panditha , 2014) has indicated that employee engagement is a concept that is
gaining traction in the recent 10 years due to its unique link to employee performance.
Further, the study suggests that there is fast development in employee engagement concept
across the world and the key drivers of engagement has been identified.
The study has identified three drivers; communication, work-life balance and leadership as
the main factors that influence employee engagement. Thus, it shows that employee
engagement is a much broader spectrum that includes a wide range of HR concepts. Based
on the findings of this study, (Bedarkar & Panditha , 2014) has concluded that employee
engagement is a continuous process that will result in improved employee performance,
which in turn will result in the overall organizational performance. Looking at studies
conducted by (May, et al., 2004) and (Soane, et al., 2012) the researchers have taken a
different approach to measuring employee engagement and its influence on employee
performance. These studies have considered the person characteristic view of engagement
in a work place looking at factors such as cognitive, physical and emotional, social,
intellectual and affective engagement. These studies have been derived based on the
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Colombo Journal of Advanced Research Vol. 1, No. 1; 2019
theories of Kahn’s (1990) engagement theory. These studies have indicated that employee
engagement could have a significance influence on employee performance.
Hypothesis 3: Employee engagement has an impact on employee performance
2. Method
2.1 Research Philosophy
Research philosophy is an ideal belief of the way in which information about a
phenomenon should be obtained, analyzed and interpreted. Thus, the purpose of research
or science is the process of transforming things believed into things known. According to
(Easterby-Smith, et al., 2002), research philosophy is significant when doing a research as
it helps to define the research design, to identify the research design, and to map out the
direction of the research to achieve its objectives. Two main research philosophies have
been identified; namely, positivism and interpretivism (Galliers, 1991). This research
intends to study the factors influencing employee performance. Thus, the research will be
conducted based on the positivism paradigm. The research was conducted in three steps.
In the first step, to find out the variables which affect Employee Performance, a rigorous
literature survey was conducted. Based on the literature survey, the constructs were
established, and survey instrument was developed. Secondly, a pilot survey was conducted
using 25 individuals of the sample to refine and asses the properties of measurements.
Finally, a field survey was conducted by using the refined questionnaire.
2.2 Participant Characteristics
Population is defined as all the people or elements that have common interests relevant to
the research under considerations (Malhotra, 2010). The author selected one of the largest
conglomerates in Sri Lanka with a total workforce of 20,361 employees, to test the
influence of the independent variables on Employee Performance. Out of the 20,361 almost
7,046 are contractual workers and 10,915 are factory workers. Due to the time constraints,
only the employees that work in the corporate office was selected to serve as the population
for this study. Data collection technique is essential to eliminate any biases while obtaining
responses. Data were collected through a field study by distributing questionnaires.
2.3 Sampling Procedures
This study is based on both primary and secondary data. Primary data were the necessary
data for testing the hypothesis which was collected through the survey. Definitions and
discussions of concepts were from the literature review, which included the books,
periodicals and journals. Primary data were collected from a sample of employees from a
company in Sri Lanka. There are two main methods to consider when selecting a sample,
such as probability and non-probability sampling. Probability sampling is a random
sampling method and is considered as a reliable method for quantitative studies (Malhotra,
2010). Probability sampling eliminates any biases and inefficiencies by providing every
sample an equal opportunity to be selected for the study. Considering the nature of the
study and the time constraints a random sampling technique was used to collect the data.
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2.3.1 Sample Size, Power, and Precision
Sample is defined as the subset of a population that is chosen to obtain data to conduct a
research (Malhotra, 2010). The identified population for the study was 2,400 and based on
the result provided by G*Power, a sample size of 150 respondents were selected. G*Power
is a tool used to conduct statistical power analysis for many different tests such as t tests,
F tests, z tests, etc., and this tool provides the minimum required sample size required to
conduct the tests and obtain valid results for social and behavioral research (Faul, et al.,
2007). A random sampling technique was selected for the study that is in accordance with
probability sampling approach. This ensures that the selected sample fairly justifies and
can be generalized to the total population (Patel, et al., 2005). Thus, a sample is simply a
subset of the population, and obtaining the correct sample ensures the validity of the study
(Malhotra, 2010). According to the G*Power output for the minimum sample size to obtain
the output of this research study and based on the three independent and 1 dependant
variable, a minimum sample of 77 was required. Hence, the author selected a sample of
150 employees, and distributed 150 questionnaires in which a total of 135 questionnaires
were received. Further, all the questionnaires that had missing values were omitted and 112
were selected for analysis with a 75% success rate of total sample.
2.3.2Measures and Covariates
A standard questionnaire was used as the primary source to collect the required data to
measure the factors influencing employee performance based on the scales developed by
EP (Pradhan & Jena, 2017), Motivation (Trembley et al., 2009), Training (Nassazi, 2013)
and EE (May et al., 2004; Soanne et al., 2012). Based on these scales, a comprehensive
questionnaire was developed and with the approval from the supervisor, the questionnaire
was validated through a pilot study.
2.3.3 Research Design
“Research design constitutes the blueprint for the collection, estimation, and analysis of
data” (Cooper & Schindler, 2014). Thus, this is a vital element for any research. Research
design consists of basic components such as the type of study, purpose of the study, study
setting, time horizon, data sources used for the study and the research approach.
Subsequent sections will describe these in detail with relation to this study. This research
study intends to identify the factors influencing employee performance and the significance
of such influence on performance at one of the largest conglomerates in Sri Lanka. Thus,
the study involves testing of hypothesis to identify the relationship between the
independent variables and the dependent variable. This study will be descriptive in nature
with a use of survey method. Thus, the study was designed to test and describe empirically
how motivation, training and employee engagement influence employee performance. The
purpose of this study is to fill the knowledge gap of Human Resource Managers with regard
to factors influencing employee performance in the Sri Lankan context. As described in
previous chapters, especially study of this nature has not been done with relation to a
conglomerate in Sri Lanka, thus the researcher also intends to contribute to the research
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Colombo Journal of Advanced Research Vol. 1, No. 1; 2019
base. For this study, the researcher gathered data from a field survey from employees of
the selected conglomerate to study the factors influencing employee performance.
2.3.4 Validity and Reliability of Measurement Properties
IBM® SPSS® Statistics version 24 was utilized as the main tool to conduct the data
analysis. This tool was selected for analysis due to its credibility and the user-friendly
nature. Further, it enables to conduct the required correlations and regression tests such as
Pearson correlation, ANOVA and t-tests with ease. The analysis was conducted in two
main steps; firstly, the descriptive statistical measures such as mean, mode, frequencies
and categorical tables were utilized. Then, the main analysis was conducted in two subsets;
initially an exploratory data analysis was conducted to identify any missing values, outliers,
normality and linearity to assess the legitimacy of the study. Then, a bivariate analysis was
conducted to identify the correlations and test the hypothesis is followed by a linear
multiple regression to understand the impact of the independent variables on the dependent
variable. Testing the validity and reliability of the data is critical as it enables the researcher
to justify the selected scales and provides insights on the quality of the research (Heale &
Twycross, 2015).
The minimum required number of respondents to conduct a pilot study is considered to be
10 according to (Saunders & Lewis , 2017), and based on this, the researcher selected a
sample of 25 for the pilot study which is approximately a 22% representation of the main
sample of 112. The selected sample for the pilot was validated and checked for reliability
through Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) test, Principle Component Analysis and Cronbach’s
Alpha for each variable. Content validity is a function of how well the dimensions and
elements of a concept have been delineated (Sekaran, 2003). Constructs used in the survey
have high content validity as they were developed based on a rigorous literature review
and was operationalized as highlighted in section 3.8. Furthermore, the questionnaire was
validated by the supervisor. Construct validity justifies how well the results obtained from
the instrument fit the theories around which the test is designed (Sekaran, 2003). Thus, to
measure the construct validity of the study, factor analysis was conducted using SPSS.
KMO and Bartlett’s test was conducted to measure the sample adequacy and is depicted
below for each variable. KMO values greater than 0.5 indicate that the factor analysis is
useful for the data set (IBM, 2012). KMO and significance value for all the variables are
within the acceptable range of above 0.5. Thus, it can be concluded that the research is
validated according to the KMO and Bartlett’s test of sampling adequacy and sphericity.
To test the consistency of the research instrument scale it is important to check the
reliability of the research instrument. Thus, this is done through measuring the Cronbach’s
Alpha for each variable and if it is within the acceptable range the instrument can be
deemed reliable. Table 1 depicts the Cronbach’s Alpha for both the pilot and the main
study. According to (Sekeran & Bougie , 2010) (Hair, et al., 2007), acceptable minimum
level for the alpha should be 0.7. As it can be seen, all the values are above 0.7 and both
the pilot and main study can be concluded as being reliable.
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Table 1. Cronbach’s Alpha for Pilot and Main Study
3. Results
3.1 Recruitment
This study was conducted in the natural environment with less interference of the
researcher. As the type of this study is descriptive, the data were collected in the natural
setting under a field survey. Hence, the study-setting of this study is non-contrived
(Sekaran, 1992). Data for this study were collected at a single point of time (Zikmund,
2000),(Sekaran, 2000); thus, the study is cross-sectional in time horizon. Time horizon of
this study was from June 2018 to August 2018. Data were collected during the month of
July of the same year. The selected sample was 112 full-time employees of company XYZ.
Below section describes the demographic profile of these respondents. The sample of
respondents represent the population of the largest conglomerate in Sri Lanka, this can be
said to represent the typical set up in any conglomerate, thereby making it possible to
generalize research findings and prove that sample is homogenous.
3.2 Statistics and Data Analysis
The analysis of collected data is done in three stages; firstly, the description of respondent
profile is provided to express understanding of the respondents; secondly, exploratory data
analysis is conducted to identify if there are any missing values, outliers, and testing the
normality and linearity. Thirdly, main data analysis consisting of bivariate analysis and
regression testing to understand the impact of said factors on employee performance.
Variable
Pilot Study Main Study
Item Cronbach's Alpha Item Cronbach's Alpha
Employee Performance 6 0.804 6 0.796
Motivation 7 0.868 7 0.750
Training 5 0.918 5 0.893
Employee Engagement 6 0.805 6 0.707
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3.2.1 Description of Respondent Profile
Demographic Variable %
Gender Male 50.9
Female 49.1
Age
18-25 30.4
26-35 46.4
36-45 8.9
46-55 14.3
Marital Status Married 41.1
Unmarried 58.9
GCE O/L 2.7
Education
GCE A/L 6.3
Diploma/Certificate 21.4
Bachelors or Equivalent 53.6
Masters or Equivalent 16.1
Work Position
Executive 56.3
Assistant Manager 32.1
Manager 5.4
Assistant Vice President 6.3
Sector
Leisure 14.3
Property 21.4
Consumer Foods & Retail 13.4
Information Technology 9.8
Transportation 13.4
Financial Services 9.8
Plantation & Other 7.1
Centre Functions 10.7
Table 2. Demographic Value Table
3.2.2 Exploratory Data Analysis
It is essential for any researcher to conduct exploratory data analysis in order to find out if
there are any errors in the collected data. Aligning with this, to ensure the findings from
this study are error free, the researcher tested the collected data for any missing values,
outliers, normality and linearity analysis. It is innate of human nature for participants to
miss a question while responding to the survey. Especially since a printed hard copy of the
questionnaire was handed out to participants, there was no method of screening missing
values at the point of collection. Thus, the researcher has eliminated any partially filled
responses and collated the data.
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The below case processing summary in Table 3 proves that the collected data was achieved
without any missing values. Table 4 reveals the skewness and kurtosis values for each
variable; using these values and the standard error, the skewness and kurtosis index have
been calculated to assess the distribution pattern. Values for skewness and kurtosis that fall
between -2 and +2 are considered acceptable in order to prove normal distribution (George
& Mallery, 2009). According to this rule of thumb, the values of this research fall in
between the acceptable range. Another view on acceptable range by (Kline, 2010), suggest
that if the skewness index is below 3 and kurtosis index falls below 10, the findings are
still acceptable for research purposes. Given that the values, as per above table 4, can be
considered acceptable under both set of rules, it can be concluded that all variables in this
study are normally distributed.
Table 3. Case Processing Summary (Missing Values)
Table 4. Normality Table
Conducting a linearity analysis will help determine the relation between independent
variables and the dependent variable of the study. The below Figure 1 depicts a linearity
graph for the independent variables of this study against the dependent variable Employee
Performance. The generated linearity graph depicts linear relationship between the selected
independent variable against the dependent variable. Thus, indicating a relationship
between the variables.
Cases
Valid Missing Total
N Percent N Percent N Percent
Motivation 112 100.0% 0 0.0% 112 100.0%
Training 112 100.0% 0 0.0% 112 100.0%
Employee Engagement 112 100.0% 0 0.0% 112 100.0%
Employee Performance 112 100.0% 0 0.0% 112 100.0%
Variable Skewness Kurtosis
Value Std. Error
Skewness Index
Value Std. Error
Kurtosis Index
Motivation 0.234 0.228 1.026 -0.518 0.453 -1.143
Training -0.091 0.228 -0.397 -0.692 0.453 -1.527
Employee Engagement -0.079 0.228 -0.344 -0.359 0.453 -0.793
Employee Performance 0.031 0.228 0.134 -0.485 0.453 -1.071
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Figure 1. Linearity Graph
3.2.3Main Data Analysis
Upon conducting the exploratory data analysis and validating that there are no errors in the
collected data, main data analysis is conducted in the form of correlation and regression
analysis of construct variables. The Pearson correlation is a bivariate measure of the
significance of strength between the dependent and independent variables (Statistics-
Solutions, 2013). For this research, the researcher has conducted a bivariate analysis to
examine the level of correlation between the variables. The Table 5 below reveals the
consolidates Pearson correlation values for each variable in this research. In accordance
with Gilford’s rule of thumb, the author has analyzed the strength of correlation between
the independent variables against the dependent (Hinkle, et al., 2003). This information
will be utilized for hypothesis testing, furthermore, regression analysis will also be
conducted to examine the significance of variable relationship.
Table 5. Bivariate Analysis Results
In terms of the hypothesis testing it was identified that each independent variable had a
correlation with the dependent variable. The highest correlation was recorder with an r
value of 0.730 with motivation and employee performance. Followed by 0.414 with
employee engagement and 0.386 with training. Thus, it was concluded that motivation has
Variable Pearson Correlation
Strength of Correlation
Motivation .730** High Correlation
Training .386** Low Correlation
Employee Engagement .414** Low Correlation
**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (1-tailed)
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the most significant influence on employee performance and that training and employee
engagement has a positive correlation with performance.
Regression analysis is the test run for entire set of variables together. To conduct the
regression analysis of this research, the multiple regression model is applied. The below
Table 6 depicts the model summary which indicates the R-value, representing the multiple
correlation coefficient. In reference to table 6, R square value, according to (Cohen, 1992)
of 0.12 or below indicates low significance, between 0.13 to 0.25 values indicate medium,
0.26 or above values indicate high effect size. In respect to this research, it can be deduced
that the significance of variables is in high effect criteria. Further to this, (Hair, et al., 2014)
states that in social sciences information are less precise and not an exact science, therefore
60 percent or lower of the total variance can be considered as satisfactory. The R square of
this study is 0.570, which means 57% of the variation in employee performance are
explained by the selected variables for this study, which are motivation, training, and
employee engagement. Table 7 represents the ANOVA table in multiple regression. The
above ANOVA table shows the analysis of variance.
In interpreting the data presented, the F value should be higher, and the significant level
should remain below 0.005 (Winter, 2015). In accordance, this research can be considered
valid according to the regression model, and moreover, this research will help improve
understanding on employee performance in Sri Lanka’s largest conglomerate. Below
depicted in Table 8 is the coefficient table derived from the conducted regression analysis.
From this table, insight on which independent variable impacts the dependent variable the
most can be examined. The beta values under standardized coefficients aids in identifying
the variable which has the most significant impact on employee performance.
Table 6. Model Summary of Regression Analysis
Model Summaryb
Model R R Square Adjusted R Square Std. Error of the Estimate
1 .755a 0.570 0.558 1.73304
a. Predictors: (Constant), Employee Engagement, Training, Motivation b. Dependent Variable: Employee Performance
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ANOVAa
Model Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.
1 Regression 430.059 3 143.353 47.730 .000b
Residual 324.369 108 3.003
Total 754.429 111
a. Dependent Variable: Employee Performance
b. b. Predictors: (Constant), Employee Engagement, Training, Motivation
Table 7. ANOVA Table from Regression Analysis
Coefficientsa
Model
Unstandardized Coefficients
Standardized Coefficients t Sig.
B Std. Error Beta
1 (Constant) -1.636 2.406
-0.680 0.498
Motivation 0.727 0.080 0.660 9.109 0.000
Training 0.223 0.079 0.192 2.837 0.005
Employee Engagement 0.047 0.100 0.034 0.465 0.643
a. Dependent Variable: Employee Performance
Table 8. Table of Coefficients from Regression Analysis
Based on the output from the regression analysis, an equation for the relationship between
the independents variables and the dependent can be derived as below. This equation
resonates the relationship, to say that every unit increase in motivation, training, and
performance, increases employee performance by their respective beta values.
Employee Performance = 0.660 (Motivation) + 0.192 (Training) + 0.034
(Employee Engagement)
4. Discussion
It was identified that motivation has the strongest correlation with the dependent variable
with a Pearson correlation of 0.730. This indicates that motivation of an individual has the
highest influence on employee performance. Further, based on the results from regression
analysis it was identified that standardized coefficient Beta value of 0.660 was allocated
for motivation. Thus, motivation has the highest impact on the dependent variable
according to this study. Thus, it can be concluded that motivation as the factor that
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influences employee performance the most. Thus, hypothesis 1 of the study: Motivation
has an impact on employee performance was accepted and training has a Pearson
correlation of 0.386 with employee performance. According to Gilford rule of thumb this
is categorized as low correlation. Thus, training has a relationship to employee
performance, but the significance of the influence may be relatively low. Further, Beta
value of 0.192 obtained through the regression analysis indicates the impact of training on
employee performance. In comparison to motivation, it indicates that training has a low
impact towards the dependent variable. Thus, hypothesis 2: training has an influence on
employee performance can be accepted but the significance of influence on the dependent
variable is relatively low. Employee engagement has a Pearson r value of 0.414 with a p
value less than 0.001 indicating a positive correlation with a higher significance.
However, Gilford’s rule of thumb suggests that r values between 0.3 – 0.5, indicate a low
correlation in behavioral sciences (Hinkle et al., 2003). Other guidelines for Pearson
correlation suggest that 0.3 – 0.5 indicate a moderate relationship. However, the r value
obtained for these two variables indicate a positive correlation and it can be concluded that
employee engagement has a positive relationship between employee performance. Looking
at the regression analysis, the Beta value obtained for employee engagement is relatively
very low at 0.034. This indicates that impact employee engagement has a positive impact
but very low. Thus, the hypothesis 3: employee engagement has an impact on employee
performance was accepted, however the significance of this factor is very low.
Based on the obtained results, the selected components were successful in evaluating
performance at the select organization. Thus, the research objective of identifying the
indicators of employee performance was successful.
Literature suggested that there are many factors that influence employee performance.
Nevertheless, only motivation, training and employee engagement were selected for this
study based on the nature of the selected organization and contribution of literature. It was
argued in literature that all three factors have a strong influence on employee performance
but considering the findings of this study, it was identified that all three of these variables
have an influence on employee performance. Although, the strength of the influence of
each variable has a drastic difference. Motivation was identified as the main factor that
influences employee performance for the selected sample followed by training and
employee engagement. Thus, at company XYZ, employees feel that motivation is key for
their performance. Further, considering the other two factors; based on the analysis, it
indicates that training and employee engagement has an influence but may not be the key
drivers. Although, theory suggest that these play a huge role in how someone performs.
However, analysis suggests that training and employee engagement has a somewhat
positive influence on employee performance. Thus, as an organization, company XYZ
should focus on ensuring that they instill on building and maintaining motivation of their
employees. Company XYZ being one of the best companies in Sri Lanka, they have well-
structured and sought out leadership team that inspires and motivates employees. Further,
training and engagement is another element in which company XYZ should focus more.
As, some of the respondents felt that the training provided to them, directly did not
influence their work performance and in terms of engagement, some felt that they felt over
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worked. As with, any organization, there could be some that feel different to others.
However, Company XYZ can benefit better if they can align their training programs to
meet the requirements of the employees.
Based on the research findings, all the independent variables have a positive influence on
employee performance. Hence, some recommendations can be derived from this study.
• The selected company should maximize their efforts in motivating and sustain
motivation. Further studies should be conducted to understand the factors that cater
to drive these two types of motivation.
• The findings suggest that there is a relationship and moderately positive impact
with training and employee engagement. Thus, it is recommended to explore further
on these factors and try to understand other aspects within these two variables that
could result in improved employee performance.
• Further, this study provides adequate information to conclude that these three
variables combined has an impact on employee performance. Thus, it is
recommended to ensure that all three of these variables are addressed well to ensure
enhanced employee performance
• It is recommended to increase the sample size and conduct the same analysis to
further validate the findings.
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