The role of employee motivation in the relationship between personality traits and employee job performance

Abstract

With the wide acceptance and credence to the significant role of non-task performance within the employee job performance (EJP) criterion, the within individual factors that contribute to the development of both non-task as well as task performance have become the focus of the research. These within individual factors that contribute to the development of performance behaviors among university teachers especially in developing countries is an ignored aspect in the employee job performance (EJP) research. This study examined those factors by taking a within individual approach by focusing on personality traits of core selfevaluations (CSE), acquired motivational needs (MN) and task and non-task performance behaviors of employees. The study tested the direct as well as indirect effects of CSE on EJP. Convenient sampling was used by administering standardized questionnaires personally to 650 university teachers in five major cities of Pakistan. Quantitative data were analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM) and AMOS 22 software. This study extended the existing body of knowledge by introducing a new relationship between CSE personality traits and acquired motivational needs. Besides that, the study verified for the first time in personality and performance literature that acquired motivational needs acted as a mediating mechanism for explaining the CSE influence on EJP. The findings can be used as guidelines for university teachers to make appropriate career choices as well as the university management to make suitable decisions regarding selection and placement of teachers.