Association between employee motivation and employee demographics in the banking industry

Abstract

Fourteen years after the demise of apartheid and embrace of democracy, South Africa as a nation is still undergoing its transformation politically, socially and economically. This environmental churning has high impact on employee perceptions within the workplace, which subsequently affects retention rates. Among the challenges facing people managers in this environment is employee motivation. However, to thoroughly understand what motivates today’s diverse employee base, one needs to look further than the current landscape into historical backgrounds, to build up character models for different demographics. The study aimed to identify associations between employee motivation and employee demographics (gender, age, race and organisational level) in the South African banking industry by also taking into account South African history to understand these associations and to translate the insights gained into effective leadership. A survey questionnaire, based on ten motivation factors, was adapted from similar studies pioneered by Kovach in 1946, who conducted subsequent studies in 1987 and 1995. The questionnaire for this study was forwarded via email to South African banking employees requesting them to provide demographic data and complete a short questionnaire with two countercheck questions per motivation factor. The collected data was then analysed to identify any associations by highlighting differences in means of the responses to the motivation factors between employee demographic categories. The means were also used to rank the ten motivation factors for each demographic category. It was concluded that there were associations, particularly between generations and the motivation factors, while gender showed the least association. On the other hand, similarities were also identified. Deserving of particular mention are similarities indicative of the Ubuntu concept of African culture across all demographic categories. Recommendations for retention strategies were provided based on these conclusions.