Rewards, employee motivation, and organizational citizenship behavior

Abstract

The study aimed at establishing the relationship between rewards, employee motivation and organizational citizenship behavior. The study employed a quantitative approach involving correlational research design. The study comprised of a population of 250 administrative staff of Kyambogo University of which 110 were male while 140 were female. The data for this study was collected through questionnaires using a sample size of 150. Background information used descriptive statistics for data analysis while the relationship between rewards, employee motivation and organizational citizenship behavior was tested using Pearson product moment correlation coefficient and the mediating effect of employee motivation on the relationship between rewards and organizational citizenship behavior was tested using linear regression analysis in PROCESS Macro (Hayes,2018).Findings revealed that there is a non-significant positive relationship between rewards and employee motivation at (r=.152,p>.01), non-significant relationship between rewards and organizational citizenship behavior at (r=.321,p<.01), a positive significant relationship between rewards and organizational citizenship behavior (r=.321, p<.01).and that the indirect effects of rewards on organizational citizenship behavior through employee motivation were positively significant. This implies that when employees are rewarded, they will get motivated and engage in organizational citizenship behavior, however it is not a guarantee that every rewarded employee will engage in organizational citizenship behavior. It is therefore recommended that employers focus on the reward system in the organization as a source for OCB. They should also pay attention to other factors such as career ambition and status in a bid to promote employee motivation other than relying on only the reward system.