Motivational Factors: Implications for Job Performance among Workers of a Public Tertiary Institution in Nigeria

Background: University workers are saddled with the responsibility of training intellectuals, a function pivotal for building leaders of tomorrow, which in turn shape society. This study sought to investigate what truly motivates workers in a tertiary institution. Methods: A cross-sectional, analytic design was adopted to investigate motivational factors among 200 workers in a tertiary institution selected with a stratified sampling technique. A self-administered semi-structured questionnaire was applied to collect data and analysed with SPSS version 22. Results: More than half (51.2%) of lecturers and three-fifth (64.1%) of those with a PhD were among the highly motivated workers. Overall motivation (r=0.629) was more strongly correlated with job performance than intrinsic motivational factors(r=0.594); (p=0.01). Extrinsic reward had a weak negative relationship with job performance whereas job satisfaction was weakly positively correlated with work output; (p=0.01). Duration of job positively predicted overall motivation, intrinsic motivational factors and job performance but job satisfaction; education was a positive predictor of job satisfaction and performance. Overall motivation had the strongest influence on job performance, followed by intrinsic factors which predicted job performance far better than job satisfaction however; extrinsic factor had a weak negative association with job performance. Conclusion: Workers’ level of motivation was moderate; lecturers with a PhD were the most motivated. Highly motivated workers had improved job performance; however extrinsic reward was low and had a negative impact on performance. The university can develop and incorporate training/motivational programmes into departmental work plans to enhance professional development