Need for achievement, personal growth initiative as co (PDF)

The Journal of Positive Psychology and Counselling Vol. 3, N0. 2, 2019 136 Need for achievement, personal growth initiative as co-variates of work motivation Kenku, Akeem Adekunle Ph.D Department of Psychology, Nasarawa State University, Keffi. Email: [email protected] Tanimola, Funmi Adeola Ph.D Department of Sociology, University of Ibadan, Nigeria. Email: [email protected] and Ishola, Ajibola Abdulrahamon Department of Psychology, University of Ibadan, Nigeria. Email: [email protected] Abstract Understanding what motivates an organization's employees is central as it plays significant role in workplace behavior and performance. Despite the importance of motivation in the Nigerian workplace researchers placed more emphasis on extrinsic sources of motivations and personal incentive as antecedents of work motivation. In the tradition of Positive psychology of investigating variables which fosters positive self-image humans and emotions with less emphasis on extrinsic rewards. We investigate the role of Need for achievement and Positive growth initiative as covariates of employees work motivation. The study was a correlational design. on one's subjective experiences, individual traits, optimism and life events. Two hundred and fifty (250) employees were conveniently sampled from the non- academic staff of Ibarapa Polytechnic, Eruwa, Oyo-state. The average age was 32.13 (SD= 4.23) years. 53.2% were males while 46.8% were females. 65.7% have spent 5-10 years in the organisation, 13.4% have spent less than 1- 4 years while 20.9% have spent above 10 years in the institution. Data was collected via questionnaire containing standardized measures. Descriptive statistics, Pearson product moment correlation analysis (PPMC) and t-test for independence were used to analysed the data at p≤0.05 of significance. Need for achievement correlated positively with work motivation (r = 0.25; p < 0.01).Work motivation increased with personal growth initiative (r = 0.39: p < 0.01) among non-academic staff Ibarapa Polytechnic, Eruwa. There was no significant difference between male and female employees in work motivation t (248) = 0.5, p> .05  The Journal of Positive Psychology and Counselling Vol. 3, N0. 2, 2019 137 The study concluded that persona growth initiative (PGI) and need for achievement were positive psychological antecedents of work motivations. The establishment of human resource Unit in the polytechnic to monitor and promote morale boosting activities in the organization was advised. Introduction Work motivation "is a set of energetic forces that originate both within as well as beyond an individual's being. Motivation can be thought of as a continuum, with values and rewards portrayed by intrinsic (inner) components toward one end, and by extrinsic (outer) factors at the other (Anwar, Waqas, Shakeel,&Hassan, 2018). Anwar et al., (2018) distinguished a few motivational components that made a happiness in workers for their occupations. Motivations are distinctive source of influencethatpropel a person to accomplish a specific assignment is known as motivation (Anwar et al., 2018). Fang, Gerhart and Ledford (2013) ascribe motivation as the urge individuals have to accomplish something or limit from it. Moreover, intrinsic and extrinsic motivations are two types of motivation. These two sorts of motivation have extraordinary impact on employment result. Intrinsic motivation speaks to an individual desire to learn and work. Though extrinsic motivation reflects outer control, genuine self-directing or control (Anwar et al., 2018). For the most part, intrinsic motivation is characterized as an individual readiness to seek after an action for smugness (Anwar et al., 2018). Then again, extrinsic motivation decides a conduct that is the consequence of the outside elements e.g. rewards. Pang and Lu, (2018) argued that employees’ behavior and feelings are affected by motivation. Employee motivation plays a vital role as it is plays an important function in human resource management at the workplace. Whereas the motivation to do this is a combination of factors that operate within each individual and requires a combination of approaches. In general sense, motivation can be referred as a combination of motive and action (Nabi et. al., 2017).There is general agreement that people are motivated in situations where (1) they can participate, (2) they can feel accomplishment and receive recognition for their work, (3) where the communication is frequent and (4) there are opportunities for career and knowledge growth. Motivation is crucial for good performance and therefore it is increasingly important to study what motivates employees for better performance. Motivation entails a serious consideration of the goals and motives that produce observed human behaviour. Lawler (2003) supports this in stating that people need both motivation and ability. Highly motivated workers will not achieve results if they do not have the necessary skills, expertise and attitude that the organisation requires of them. Similarly, employees with expertise, knowledge and skills will not do well if they are unmotivated. He furthers says that the most widely accepted reason why people are motivated to work and perform is rooted in expectancy theory. Despite evidence to the contrary, human resources professionals still dismiss awards, recognition and incentive programmes as ‘feel good’ activities. Evidence suggests that there exists a strong link between non-cash awards and incentives and improved job performance (Wiscombe, 2002). Tella, Ayeni and Popoola (2007) identify salary, wages and conditions of service, staff training and information availability and communication as some of the factors for sustaining the motivation of the library and information science professionals especially in this era of the information technology. Study conducted by Tella, Ayeni andPopoola (2007) reveals that there is a positive correlation between the motivation and job satisfaction of the professional and non-professional library  The Journal of Positive Psychology and Counselling Vol. 3, N0. 2, 2019 138 personnel. Also,Ogbe, Ajanya and Anaele (2013) evaluated the impact of employee motivation on organizationalperformance with particular focus on power Holding Company of Nigeria in Jebba District office. Their study demonstrated that that employees’ motivation enhances performance, also employees’ training, promotion, improvement in salary and work environment was found to be positively related to performance. Robitschek, (2003).found a strong relationship between these PGI and personal growth, which may be independent of other’s growth. Understanding what motivates an organization's employees is central to the study of organizational behaviour. Motivation is used as a tool to help predict behavior, and it varies greatly among individuals and must often be combined with ability and environmental factors to actually influence behavior and performance. Because of motivation's role in influencing workplace behavior and performance, it is key for organizations to understand and to structure the work environment to encourage productive behaviors and discourage those that are unproductive (Jex& Britt, 2008). Despite the importance of motivation in the Nigerian workplace researchers placed more emphasis on extrinsic sources of motivations and personal incentive as antecedents of work motivation. Positive psychology placed its emphasis on fostering positive self-esteem and self-image humans are believed to be often drawn by the future more than they are driven by the past. The trend of Positive psychology scholars is geared towards activities of researching positive attitudes based on subjective experiences, individual traits, optimism and positive life events(Achor, 2011; Baumeister, 2016; Deci, 2013; Rani & Kumar-Lenka, 2012; Ryan, & Deci, 2000; Pink, 2009). Consequently, Personal Growth Initiative (PGI) is a variable that have been identified to greatly influence individuals that are goal oriented and focused in organizational outcome.Personal Growth Initiative taken in the present study is defined as the active and intentional engagement in changing and developing as a person (Robitschek, 1998). Furthermore, PGI is assumed to integrate both individual cognitive and behavioral components comprised general goals related to personal change and plans to attain those goals (Robitschek, 2003). PGI is a metacognitive construct that describes an orientation towards actively and purposefully engaging in the growth seeking process. PGI contains cognitive components (e.g. motivation to change, knowledge of the change process, and efficacy related to the change process) and behavioral components (e.g. general goals relating to personal change and plans to attain those goals; Robitschek, 2003). For example, an individual high in PGI might critically evaluate past, current, and future experiences to both determine potential areas for growth and monitor growth experiences. Behaviorally, these individuals would likely seek out experiences deemed important to personal growth. In contrast, an individual low in PGI would not consider growth as a criterion for examining past, current, and future experiences and therefore would not behaviorally seek out intentional growth experiences. Thus, it is expected that expected that employees who exhibit high personal growth initiative will demonstrate high work motivation. Achievement is something an employee does, such as reaching a goal or completing a project, using her skills, effort and persistence. According to McClellend, the need for achievement is a psychological motivator that employees can develop. Wise managers’ help foster a need for achievement in their employees because it can mean performance improvement, increased productivity and employee retention. An achievement is something an employee does, such as reaching a goal or completing a project, using her skills, effort and persistence. According to McClellend, the need for achievement is a psychological motivator that employees can develop. Stewart and Roth (2007) recognized that achievement motivation was grounded on Murray’s (1938) needs theory as further developed by McClelland’s (1961) need for achievement. Accordingly,  The Journal of Positive Psychology and Counselling Vol. 3, N0. 2, 2019 139 individuals with higher needs for achievement would be more likely to embark upon will be highly motivated because to satisfy their career needs. This study examines the relationship among the perceptions of Need for achievement, personal growth initiative andwork motivation in the tertiary educational facility. The broad objective of this study is to find relationship between Need for achievement, Personal growth initiative and work motivation. Specifically, this study aims at the followings: i. To find out if work motivation increases with increasing Need for achievement among employees. ii. To investigate if work motivation increases with increasing personal growth initiative among employees. iii. To seek if Gender difference influence the level of work motivation Theoretical Framework The theoretical framework for this study was rooted in McClelland’s Achievement Motivation Theory. “Achievement Motivation Theory attempts to explain and predict behavior and performance based on a person’s need for achievement, power, and affiliation” (Lussier & Achua, 2007). The Achievement motivation theory relates personal characteristics and background to a need for achievement and the associated competitive drive to meet standards of excellence. According to theoretical research by Murray (1938), McClelland, Atkinson, Clark, and Lowel (1953), and McClelland (1961), achievement motivation or need for achievement is influenced by a combination of internal factors including personal drives and external or environmental factors including pressures and expectations of relevant organizations and society. Related to an individual’s need for achievement and overall motivation is the individual’s need for power and need for affiliation.These individuals strive to achieve their goals and advance in the organization. They tend to be dedicated to their work and strive hard to succeed. Such individuals also demonstrate a strong desire for increasing their knowledge and for feedback on their performance, often in the form of performance appraisal. Method Research Design This study utilized the correlational design for the study. Participants This study utilized the convenient sampling technique to sample Two hundred and fifty (250) employees from the non-academic staff at Ibarapa Polytechnic, Eruwa, Oyo-state. The average age was 32.13 (SD= 4.23) years. 53.2% were males while 46.8% were females. 13.2% of the respondents has M.Sc./Postgraduate diploma degree, 66.7% have OND/NCE certificate, 16.4% hadB.Sc/HND certificate, and 3.7% have SSCE/ primary education. 74.7% of the respondents  The Journal of Positive Psychology and Counselling Vol. 3, N0. 2, 2019 140 were married while singleswere 26.3%. 65.7% have spent 5-10 years in the organisation, 13.4% have spent less than 1- 4 years while 20.9% have spent above 10 years in the institution. All the eligible employees were sampled by the researcher at their place of work due to its convenience in terms of time and space. Instruments The questionnaire divided in to four subsections, tapped information on the socio-demographic characteristics of the respondents and standardized scales were used to assess Need for achievement, Personal Growth Initiative and Work motivation.The socio demographic variables include sex, age, marital status, educational leveland years spent in the organization. Thestandardized instrument Need for achievement scale developed by Oyefeso (1988). Itis a 15- item self-report Likert scale. The 15-items are made to measure need for achievement. The scale is uni-dimensional. The item was scored using four-item scale, ranging from 1 = “Strongly Agree” to 5 = “Strongly Disagree”, with a final composite score that ranges from 15 to 40. Increasing scores above the mean scores suggests increasing level of need for achievement while decreasing scores below the mean suggest low need for achievement. The reliability of the scale according to the author was 0.61. Personal Growth Initiative was measured using the Personal Growth Initiative Scale (PGI) developed by Robitschek (1998). The PGIS is a 9-item measure employing a 5-point Likert Scale ranging from 1 (definitely disagree) to 6 (definitely agree). It is a self-report instrument that yields a single scale score for personal growth initiative. Scores ranges from 9 to 54 with higher scores indicating high levels of personal growth initiative. Sample items on the scale are “I have a specific action plan to help me reach my goal” and “I take charge of my life”. Item scores are summed to obtain a total Personal Growth Initiative (PGI) score. The internal consistency estimate of the scale ranges from 0.78 to 0.90 and a test- retest reliability estimate of 0.74 after 8 weeks has also been reported (Robitschek, 1998, 1999).Work motivation scale and was measured using the scale developed by Gagne and Deci (2005). This is an 11 item scale reflecting level of employees work motivation. It is employed in this study to capture workers’ both extrinsic and intrinsic motivation. The scale is multi- dimensional. The item on the scale was scored using five interval scale, ranging from 1 = “Strongly Agree” to 5 = “Strongly Disagree”. Increasing scores above the mean scores suggests increasing level of for employees work motivations while decreasing scores below the mean suggest low work motivations. The internal consistency estimate for the sub dimensions ranged 0.71 to 0.91 alpha. Procedure The researcherssought for the necessary approval from the office of the Rector of the Polytechnic through a formal request. When the approval was granted, the purposive sampling technique was used to distribute the questionnaires to the respondents at the parade ground and at their various duty posts at different locations. The researchers personally administered the questionnaires to the employees at their various duty posts. The researchers first obtained a verbal consent from the respondent after explaining to the respondents the nature of the research and that the study is strictly for research purpose only. The respondents were assured that the information would be  The Journal of Positive Psychology and Counselling Vol. 3, N0. 2, 2019 141 treated confidentially. The questionnaires were retrieved immediately after completion. The questionnaires that were properly completed were used for data analysis. Data Analysis Data collected was analysed with the computer software package – Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20 for Windows. The first and second objectives were analyses using Pearson product moment correlation analysis (PPMC) and t-test for independence. Statistical significance was reported at the conventional p-value of equal to or less than the 0.05 level (two-tailed). Results The first objective is to assess the relationship between need for achievement and and work motivation of non-academic staff workers in the Ibarapa Polytechnic, Eruwa was analyzed using Pearson product moment correlation analysis (PPMC) the result is presented in table 1. Table 1: Descriptive Statistic and Pearson correlation analysis between Personal Growth Initiative and Work motivation Variables N Mean S.D 1 2 3 Work motivation 250 59.12 16.02 - .25** .39** Need for achievement 250 35.43 3.55 - .41** Personal Growth Initiative 250 43.10 8.24 *correlation significant at 0.05 The result in table1 revealed that Need for achievement correlated positively with work motivation (r = 0.25; p < 0.01). The results here then showed that work motivation increases as Need for achievement was increasing. The Need for achievement was a significant correlate of work motivation among non-academic staff Ibarapa Polytechnic, Eruwa. The research objective was supported. Objective Two, this investigate if work motivation increases with increasing personal growth initiative among employees personal growth initiative correlated positively with work motivation.The result displayed in Table 1, Work motivation increased with personal growth initiative (r = 0.39: p < 0.01) among non-academic staff Ibarapa Polytechnic, Eruwa. The research objective was also supported (See Table 1). The third objective that male would significantly score higher on work motivation than female was tested using the t-test for independent measures. The summary of this result is shown in Table 2:  The Journal of Positive Psychology and Counselling Vol. 3, N0. 2, 2019 142 Table 2: t-test summary table showing the influence of employees’ gender on work motivation Work motivation Sex N Mean Std df t p Male 133 59.55 14.88 248 .05 >0.05 Female 117 59.45 17.29 The result in Table 2, showed that there was no significant difference between male (M= 59.55) and female employees (M = 59.42) in work motivation (t (248) = 0.5, p> .05). This indicates that gender did not significantly influence work motivation among non- academic staff in the polytechnic, Ibadan. Therefore, the research objective was not supported. Discussion The results obtained showed that that combination of need for achievement and PGI when taken together are effective in predicting work motivation. The first hypothesis was significant. The result revealed that work motivating increase as need for achievement was increasing among non-academic staff Ibarapa Polytechnic, Eruwa. This finding supports the work of Creed etal. (2009) who demonstrated that higher levels of achievement motivation leads to higher levels of job search intensity. According to Mullins (2007) people that rate highly in achievement motivation are always challenged by opportunities and work hard to achieve set goals. Hart and Albarracin (2009) corroborate Mullins’s claim by stating that individuals with chronically high achievement motivation are motivated to attain high performance goals, enjoy pursuing standards of excellence, value competence and enjoy challenges and achievement relevant feedback. The second objective was to test the relationship between personal growth initiativeand work motivation amongnon-academic staff workers in the Ibarapa Polytechnic, Eruwa. The relationship was confirmed. In this light, work motivation increasedwith personal growth initiative. The finding support Park et al. (2004). Kashdan et al. (2004) propose that work motivation initiates a process that leads to personal growth. This suggests a correlation between work motivation and personal growth initiative.The third objectivestated that male would significantly score higher on work motivation than female was not supported. The result above showed clearly that there was no significant difference between male and female employees in work motivation. This indicates that gender did not significantly influence work motivation among non- academic staff in the polytechnic, Ibadan. This is in contrastwith the study of Ramilo (2004); Shrum (2007) and Nazrul (2009) who are of the view that the gender of employees tends to significantly affect their job motivation and job performance in the workplace. Their argument is that men are more disposed to work harder than women. Similarly,  The Journal of Positive Psychology and Counselling Vol. 3, N0. 2, 2019 143 there is the view by Aremu and Adeyoju (2003); Vaskova (2005) and Zhao and Seibert (2006) that gender plays a significant role in job motivation among employees in some professions, especially in developing countries. Conclusion and Recommendations The results of this study, hitherto, bring out several conclusions. Research had showed that persona growth initiative (PGI) and need for achievement were positive correlates of work motivations. The result also indicated that there was no gender difference in the non-academic staff job motivations. The findings of the present study have some implications for human resources development in the academic institutions. Many organizations and managers assume that the desire of an employee to do something that matters and do it well is the exception rather than the rule. 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