Work attitude as a mediator between experience, training, and post-promotion performance: Evidence from senior staff in Ghanaian public universities

Abstract

This research aims to examine the impact of the factors commonly considered in the promotion of senior staff in public universities in Ghana and their influence on the post-promotion performance of senior staff. This study examines the employee’s experience, training, and performance as common variables, while the employee’s work attitude serves as a mediator among them. This study is grounded in the Social Exchange Theory (SET) and supported by the Ability, Motivation, and Opportunity framework (AMO). The research design is exploratory and quantitative. With data from a target population of 821 senior staff from the University of Ghana and the University for Development Studies and using Slovin’s formula to determine the sample size (268), the collected data through the administered questionnaire were used to test some suggested connections by using the Structural Equation Modelling-Partial Least Squares (SEM-PLS). The data have demonstrated that there is a direct significant influence of training on performance (β = 0.484, p = 0.000) and also a positive effect on performance through work attitude (β = 0.113, p = 0.001). The data have also shown that the study does not align with previous research indicating that experience directly influences performance (β=-0.078, p=0.285); instead, it reveals that work attitude (motivation) can mediate the effect of experience on performance (β=0.012, p=0.371). The empirical findings have shown that training has a direct impact on the performance of the senior staff, and to increase performance, the enabling conditions (work attitude-motivation) must be created. The findings also indicate that experience alone has an inverse relationship with performance, necessitating the presence of work attitude-motivation to positively influence performance. It is recommended that universities consider the training of senior staff as a factor in promoting them for performance, and to enhance performance, they must create an enabling environment (work attitude/motivation). Again, it is recommended that, when senior staff are promoted based on experience, the enabling environment (work attitude-motivation) must be ensured to lure the performance of the staff. This study is beneficial for the university management to focus on the influence of experience, training, work attitude, and employee performance when it comes to matters of promotion in order to enhance post-promotion performance. The university policy document should incorporate training, attitude management, and performance management. In conclusion, training alone can be a driver of performance and must be considered a factor for promotion, while experience alone is not; the motivational factors must be there. This approach conforms to the social exchange theory.