The Influence of Motivation on the Performance of Employees in the Ghanaian Banking Sector

Abstract

This study focused on motivational factors and their influence on employee performance in the Ghanaian Banking Sector. The reason for conducting the study was that there has been a problem of employee demotivation in the financial institutions. The research was a survey in the commercial banks in the Accra, the Capital City of Ghana. Data were collected from managerial employees in the Head Offices of the financial institutions. The researcher used questionnaires and interviews as research instruments. Quantitative data was analysed using SPSS while thematic analysis was used in qualitative data analysis. The findings of the study were that most of the banking entities had fairly ‘young' employee base that tended to put high valence of extrinsic motivational factors, and that the Financial Institution was providing inadequate extrinsic motivation, which was not in sync with the ‘young aged' employee base it had. Most of the participants were in agreement that inadequate motivational factors were responsible for poor job performance. The research showed that inadequate salary and other motivational factors like quality of work life, promotion, supervision, and teamwork lead to counterproductive work behaviour. However, respondents also highlighted that indirect remuneration was being used to ensure adequacy of extrinsic motivational factors and there were efforts to provide housing to the employees in the Financial Institution. The factors responsible for employee demotivation included lack of organisational capacity to provide adequate extrinsic motivational factors. In addition, ineffective performance appraisal systems were a challenge being faced by most banks. The study recommended that the leadership in the financial institutions needed to be aware of the needs of the junior employees and be able to meet those needs. Provision of indirect remuneration could help in motivating the junior employees. There was also need to have ethical codes of conduct to prevent counterproductive work behaviour like absenteeism, lateness, job turnover, loafing, anti-social behaviour, and theft/fraud. Financial Institutions needed to provide equitable remuneration, and training and development of the employees.