Motivation and Academic Staff Performance in Rivers State University, Port Harcourt, Nigeria (2020 – 2025)

Abstract

The study was undertaken to examine the manner in which motivation influences the performance of academic staff at Rivers State University, Port Harcourt. In this study, two objectives, research questions and research hypotheses were formulated. Descriptive and survey research designs were adopted for the work. The study population consists of 1705 academic staff from the 12 faculties and research institutes. The sample size for the work was 426 respondents selected from 25% of the study population. Purposive sampling technique was used in selecting the academic staff from the 12 faculties and research institutes in the study area while simple random sampling was adopted in selecting the study samples. The instrument used for the work was Motivation and Academic Staff Performance Questionnaire (MASPQ) developed and administered by the researcher to 426 respondents. Three experts validated the instrument while Cronbach Alpha was used to establish the reliability index of the instrument giving an internal consistency of 0.78. The data collected were analyzed using mean and standard deviation to answer the research questions while Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient (PPMCC) and Analysis of Co-variance (ANCOVA) were used in testing the hypotheses and answering the research questions respectively. The findings revealed that: Motivational strategies have a significant influence on the reward system (Compensation) for quality services delivery at Rivers State University, Port Harcourt; Motivation has a significant direct influence on career advancement opportunities for academic staff resulting in improved organizational productivity at Rivers State University. The study concluded that academic staff motivation in RSU occurs through staff rewards/compensations, career development and adequate employees’ engagement. The study recommended among other things the managers of RSU should give priority to staff welfare like better reward system, staff development through training and re-training for improved performance and provision of a conducive work environment and facilities to increase productivity in the university.