Workforce Skills Development and Employee Performance: Assessing the Interaction Effect of Personal Creativity and Workplace Environment at Institutional Level

Abstract

This study assesses the interaction effect of personal creativity and the influence of workplace environment on the association between workforce skills development and employee performance. Adopting a cross-sectional quantitative survey approach, data were sought from 156 employees of Lira District Local Government in Uganda within the region of South Saharan Africa. Regression models were used to establish the direct effect of the independent variables on the dependent variable. PROCESS v. 4.0 by Hayes was used to determine mediation and moderation roles. Results show that control variables of age and education had a significant positive effect on employee performance. Workforce skills development and personal creativity had a direct, significant positive effect on employee performance. Mediation analysis shows that personal creativity plays a positive, significant mediating role between workforce skills development and employee performance. Moderation analysis shows that workplace environment has a negative moderating effect on the association between workforce skills development and employee performance. It is, therefore, recommended that public institutions must seek to provide and promote avenues that develop individual creativity and cultivate mutually supportive environments to ensure positive performance.