| dc.description.abstract | “Compensation is essential to the functioning of employee-employer relationship and is close to the heart of both the employer and the employee. Perceived unfairness in compensation can be harmful to employees and the organization. When employees believe that they are not paid equitably they will be dissatisfied with work which can lead to voluntary employee turnover, regular absence from work, non-commitment to the organization and low-trust employee relations. Lack of clear criteria and unfairness in distributing incentives to academic staff and supportive supervisors could influence academic staff motivation and employee performance. There is need to consider fairness in distributing incentives and to have supportive supervisors who will motivate the academic staff and in turn improve their performance. The objective of this research was to determine the role of employee motivation, perceived equity and supervisor support in the relationship between employee compensation and employee performance in Kenyan Chartered Public Universities. The study was founded on Expectancy Theory, Maslow Theory, Equity Theory and Social Exchange Theory. The study adopted positivist research philosophy. Descriptive cross-sectional design was adopted to enable the researcher discover the relationship between different variables. The study targeted academic staff in 23 Kenyan chartered public universities. Multistage sampling technique was used to identify respondents from Kenyan Chartered Public Universities. The number of Faculties/Schools/Institutes sampled was 43 out of 246. A sample size of 370 academic staff was selected from a population of 2011 using easy sample size calculator. Data was collected on employee compensation, employee motivation, perceived equity, supervisor support and employee performance using a questionnaire. A pilot study was carried out at one university to validate the data collection instrument. Reliability results indicated a Cronbach alpha of 0.920. Out of 370 questionnaires administered, 247 were returned and analyzed, thus a response rate of 69 percent. Test of normality, linearity, multicollinearity and homoscedasticity revealed that the data was normally distributed, linear and independent of errors. Quantitative technique was used to analyze data. The study found that employee compensation had a weak but significant effect on employee performance. Further the study found that the relationship between employee compensation and performance is mediated by employee motivation. Compensation is meant to improve employee motivation to achieve high performance levels. The study also found that the relationship between employee compensation and performance is moderated individually by perceived equity and supervisor support. The study established that employee compensation and employee performance in Kenyan chartered public universities is jointly moderated by perceived equity and supervisor support. The study also found that the joint effect of employee compensation, employee motivation, perceived equity, supervisor support on employee performance is greater than the effect of compensation on employee performance. The study confirmed that employee compensation affects employee performance. Further, when employees perceive fairness in compensation by their supervisors, they will be motivated to work hard and improve performance. The study concluded that jointly, significant predictors of employee performance are motivation and supervisor support. While compensation and perceived equity are important in enhancing employee performance, Kenyan chartered public universities need to pay special attention to employee motivation and supervisor support. With support from their supervisors, motivated staff will be able to achieve high performance. The study recommended that chartered universities should implement employee compensation, motivation, equity and supervisor support programmes as a set. This research can be replicated in future in other sectors such as private universities, manufacturing companies and non-governmental organizations. | en_US |
