Employee Rewards and Performance of Public Sector Nurses in Ghana: Mediating Roles of Psychological Conditions, Employee Engagement and Causality Orientations

Abstract

Psychological conditions, employee engagement and causality orientations play vital roles in the employee rewards- performance relationship. Due to limited knowledge on the roles of these factors in this relationship, it was essential to examine the mediation roles of these factors in the employee rewards-nurses’ performance relationship of public sector nurses in Ghana. The mixed methods research approach and the sequential explanatory designs were adopted for the study. The multi-stage sampling technique was used to select 761 respondents. Ten key informants were also selected using purposive sampling. Data were collected using a questionnaire and interview guide. Analysis of the data involved Smart PLS-SEM and inductive thematic analysis. The study found that social reward positively and significantly predicted adaptive performance and contextual performance, while social reward's effect on counterproductive performance was negative and insignificant. Besides, personal value, high moral standard, adherence to rules and reputation damage explained low levels of counterproductive performance. The study also found that psychological meaningfulness and availability significantly and positively mediated the relationships between social reward and contextual performance, while psychological safety did not. Additionally, the study revealed significant and positive serial mediations for social reward, engagement, control orientation and contextual performance. It is recommended that the public sector nurses should request their institutions to institutionalise social rewards, psychological conditions, employee engagement and causality orientations through training and regular employee surveys.