Knowledge management, employee empowerment and job performance in Uganda public sector

Abstract

Uganda is among the many countries that are struggling to improve service delivery in the public sector. Due to the interest of addressing issues affecting job performance in the public sector, a number of factors have been proposed that can influence job performance among public servants in the Uganda public sector. This study therefore sought to examine the influence of knowledge management on employee empowerment and job performance in the Uganda public sector. The study was conducted from Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries. It adopted a cross-sectional survey research design and data was collected through self-administered questionnaires and performance appraisal data from 205 participants. Data collection was done through purposive sampling technique. The response rate was 76 percent. The study used Pearson product moment correlation and regression analysis to test for the hypotheses. Statistical results confirm that knowledge management positively significantly relates to job performance (self-rating) (r = .41, p ≤ .001); knowledge management positively significantly relates to job performance (supervisory-rating) (r = .28, p ≤ .001); knowledge management positively significantly relates to employee empowerment (r = .40, p ≤ .001); employee empowerment positively significantly relates to job performance (self-rating) (r =.50, p ≤ .001); employee empowerment positively significantly relates to job performance (supervisory- rating) (r = .32, p ≤ .001). The findings further show that employee empowerment partially mediates the relationship between knowledge management and job performance. Based on the findings of this study, the researcher concludes that public sector organizations that practice knowledge management are likely to have empowered employees and improved job performance.