Effect of financial and non-financial incentives, organisational culture and leadership styles on employee motivation and how the impact influences the performance of employees: Empirical evidence from the Nigerian public sector

<p> </p> <p>The Nigerian government have applied several reforms to develop the performance of its</p> <p>workforce; in particular, how best to motivate the public sector employees to achieve this end.</p> <p>This research examines employees' judgement with regards to the financial and non-financial</p> <p>incentives, organisational culture and leadership styles impact on the motivation of employees</p> <p>and how their motivation becomes an attitude and reason for not performing well. A subsidiary</p> <p>commitment of the research is to study the relevance of Western theories of motivation for</p> <p>employee motivation in the Nigerian public sector. Several studies were developed from the</p> <p>Western countries where the theories of motivation originated from, whereas reduced study</p> <p>have been carried out in underdeveloped African nations like Nigeria. The foregoing shows that</p> <p>the Nigerian public sector lacks any strategy to harness the motivation of its staff, whether</p> <p>through financial or non-financial incentives, leadership styles, organisational culture as</p> <p>expressed by the theories of motivation. A hypothetical model of the relationships between</p> <p>these factors provided a conceptual framework that guided the research. A mixed research</p> <p>approach using both questionnaires (quantitative) and interviews (qualitative) was employed to</p> <p>enable the researcher's understanding of the processes by which the factors considered</p> <p>impinged on public sector employees' motivation. The study findings justify and establish the</p> <p>relevance of the Western motivation theories to the Nigerian public sector, and besides skills</p> <p>and technological expertise, this study proves that leadership styles, financial and non-financial</p> <p>incentives as well as organisational culture are drivers of employee motivation while motivation</p> <p>is a major driver of employee performance. This study key contribution is that organisational</p> <p>culture significantly impacts on employees' motivation negatively based on its bureaucratic</p> <p>nature in the way it envelopes the policies, rules and regulations, structures and processes that</p> <p>determines both financial and non-financial incentives, leadership approach and job variables.</p> <p>Therefore, it is imperative that the Nigerian public sector give keen attention to the</p> <p>development of a robust and flexible culture that will strategically develop and support the</p> <p>implementation of a performance driven employees' motivation that takes into account the</p> <p>finding from this study. Future research recommendation revealed through this study</p> <p>emphasises further investigation into the significance of organisational culture in the</p> <p>management of organisational policies, rules, regulations, structures and processes that</p> <p>determines key motivation factors so as to enhance both organisational and employee</p> <p>performance.</p>