Effect of work motivation on employee job satisfaction in Ceylon Electricity Board, Batticaloa District

Abstract

The major aim of the research was to measure the effect of work motivation on employee job satisfaction in Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB), Batticaloa District. Ten research questions were raised in this study. The first six questions were raised.to find out the level of study variables and the seventh question tried to investigate whether there are differences in job satisfaction between technical and supporting employees. The eighth question was aimed at finding out the differences in job satisfaction across different demographic characteristics as it was important to figure out such prevailing demographical differences. Question nine was raised to test for the relationship between work motivation factors and employee job satisfaction and the final question which was the main question, was created to find out the extent to which the work motivation factors affect employee job satisfaction in Ceylon Electricity Board in Batticaloa District. Primary data were collected from the employees who worked at the Distribution Maintenance Office, Area Chief Engineer Office, Distribution Construction Engineer Office and Sub Stores of Batticaloa District, Simple random sampling method was used to obtain 285 responses from employees working at CEB, - Batticaloa District. The collected data were used to test the model using regression analysis. The result revealed that the important elements of work motivation were the manager’s leadership style, motivation practices, employee job expectations, reward management system, and working environment whereas the identified consequence was employee job satisfaction. All five variables had a positive influence on job satisfaction and among them, motivation practices had the highest influence and working environment had the least influence on job satisfaction. Further results implied that there were no differences in employee job satisfaction between technical and support service employees. Implications of this research for Expectancy theory, Herzberg Motivation/Hygiene theory and Maslow’s Hierarchy Needs theory and practices were discussed.