K. Sindhura
MEASI Institute of Management, Chennai
The social learning theory believes that one’s belief in their ability to complete a task is
called Self-Efficacy. The personality theory predicts work performance across a range
of dimensions. The multidimensional conceptualization of job motivation is emphasised
by the self-determination theory. The organization anticipates that its personnel will fulfill
their tasks and roles effectively. For the company, the employees are a huge investment
and asset. The factors that affect an employee’s motivation at work are numerous.
Finding the elements will encourage the organization in investing in human capital. The
opinions about human potential have changed significantly. The goal of human resource
planning is to hone employees’ skill sets for effective performance. The employees
exhibit a variety of job behaviours, with some excelling and being devoted while other
behaviours show less interest. It becomes important responsibility for the organisations
to understand the factors which influence the employee’s level of work motivation.
In the present study author has examined whether Self-Efficacy and Personality of
the employees associate their level of Work Motivation. The patterns of a person’s
externally organised habits, traits, attitudes, beliefs, motivation, etc., which interact
internally and have an impact on their goals, are their personalities. 120 employees
working for an IT company participated in the study. Standardized measures were used
to obtain data on Self–Efficacy, Big Five Personality traits and Work Motivation. Cluster
analysis was done in addition to the other descriptive data analysis. Findings showed
that Cluster-1 had the following characteristics of conscientiousness, neuroticism,
amotivation, extrinsic regulation-social and extrinsic regulation-material; Cluster-2 had
the following characteristics of self-efficacy, extroversion, agreeableness, openness to
new experience, introjected regulation, identified regulation and intrinsic motivation. The
clusters were significant in self-efficacy, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism,
amotivation, introjected regulation, identified regulation and intrinsic motivation. The
inference helped to cluster of the employees who would require differential intervention to
enhance work motivation and perform well in their roles. High correlation was observed
in the personality dimension – agreeableness with the work dimensions in introjected
regulation and intrinsic motivation, followed by the personality dimension-extraversion
with the work motivation in introjected regulation and intrinsic motivation. The findings
could help to understand the characteristics of employees and develop appropriate
strategy to execute intervention to improve their work motivation.