Godfrey Maake, Cornelia Harmse
Abstract
Motivation plays a critical part in organisational success. One of the aspects that influences motivation is demographic profiling of employees, such as marital status. Motivation has the power to impact employees’ behaviour within the organisation. The study seeks to examine the significant differences in motivational factors among administrative employees across different marital statuses and its implications for employee performance in the selected Government department. The current study adopted a quantitative approach. A structured questionnaire was used to collect and analyse data using the Statistical Package of Social Science Program (SPSS). The research targeted 150 administrative employees from a population of 463. Non-probability convenience sampling was utilised to choose respondents. The study discovered that job characteristics were the only factors significantly influencing motivation in these two demographic categories (married and never married). No statistically significant differences between never-married and married individuals in terms of “reward, goal setting, feedback, salary, opportunity for advancement, working conditions, recognition and appreciation, training and development, job security, performance appraisals, and leadership”. To avoid a one-size-fits-all strategy, management and HR practitioners must establish work designs that allow and give adequate management interventions tailored to the needs of individual employees and expectations.