Determinants of public employees' performance: evidence from Ethiopian public organizations

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to explain the determinants of employees' performance in Ethiopian public organizations, by examining the determinant factors of motivation, ability and role perception in seven different public organizations that reengineered their business processes. Design/methodology/approach - Using primary data collected from 100 respondents, individual performance, an ordered categorical variable, was regressed on motivation, ability, role perception and certain control variables. An ordered logistic regression model was employed in the research. Findings - Results of the STATA routine indicate that, in Ethiopian public organizations, ability has no significant effect on employees' performance. On the other hand, motivation positively determines performance until some stage of experience, beyond which performance declines with experience. Similarly, role perception is found to be strongly positively related to the likelihood of good performance. Research limitations/implications - Further research is required into the dynamic nature of employees' performance. Panel data econometric models might be used to explain the determinants of performance across time. Similarly, future empirical researches in the area in question will be helpful to consider space‐time differences in explaining determinants of employees' performance. Originality/value - The paper looks into the determinant factors of Ethiopian public organization employees' performance. Currently, Ethiopian public organizations are undertaking Business Process Re‐engineering (BPR) and striving for the system of performance‐based pay. This research has policy implications in relation to designing an effective performance‐based pay system. On the other hand, the paper contributes to the empirical literature, providing a clearer picture of the determinants of public employees' performance.