Factors Influencing Employee Performance in a Leading ... · communication influence employee performance. Similarly, it has been identified that these factors have an influence on

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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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

118


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

119


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.

120


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