Employee empowerment and job performance in selected public institutions in Uganda

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to assess the relationship between employee empowerment and job performance in selected public institutions in Uganda. The specific objectives were; i) to establish the relationship between structural empowerment and job performance; ii) to determine the relationship between psychological empowerment and job performance; and iii) to determine the mediating role of motivation in the relationship between employee empowerment and job performance. Data were collected from a sample size of 138 respondents using stratified random sampling and purposive sampling techniques from three public institutions namely; the National Curriculum Development Centre (NCDC); National Information Technology Authority - Uganda (NITA – U); and Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA). Statistical tests were performed using SPSS software (SPSS Version 23, SPSS Inc. USA). The results revealed a positive and significant (r = .328; p = 000) relationship between psychological empowerment and employees’ job performance. On the other hand, the perceived structural empowerment did not relate with job performance. The proposed model in this study explained 47 percent of the variance in job performance (R2 = 0.394) and the regression model was significant (F = 6.568; p = .000). In conclusion, these findings mean that the higher the level of perceived individual empowerment, the higher their job performance; and vice versa: the lower the perceived level of individual empowerment, the lower their job performance. Additionally, these findings imply that supporting structural and psychological empowerment in the workplace is likely to enhance employees’ motivation and job performance in public institutions. The study recommends that there is a need for the administrators to foster psychological and structural empowerment for employees in the public institutions in order to achieve better work-related behaviors. Additionally, there is a need to explore other factors that could enhance public employees’ job motivation. Further studies are recommended involving more types of institutions (e.g. public and private) to enhance the generalizability of findings across diverse organizational settings. In addition to the variables tested in this study, other variables such as leadership styles, organizational commitment, citizenship behaviours should also be explored in future studies to gain deeper understanding of the mediating role of motivation on job performance.