Self-efficacy and Performance of Academic staff in Ugandan Public Universities: Does Job Satisfaction Matter?

Abstract

In a bid to raise performance and academic standards of academic staff of Ugandan public universities the government took initiatives geared towards capacity building and better working conditions, such as; scholarships for further studies, research funds and enhanced salaries. However, their performance still falls below stakeholder expectations. This study therefore sought to establish both; the direct effect of self-efficacy on performance and the effect conditional on job satisfaction. A cross sectional research design with quantitative research methods was employed. A two-stage sample of 320 academic staff from four public universities was selected; firstly; one university from each geographical stratum and later a proportionate simple random sample of academic staff. Primary data were collected using electronic and hard copy questionnaires. Statistical data analyses including; descriptive statistics, correlation and regression were performed. The results revealed that self-efficacy has a positive relationship with Job satisfaction and performance. Job satisfaction was found to have a negative moderation effect on the relationship between self-efficacy and performance. The study contextualizes self-efficacy, job satisfaction and employee performance to academics in public universities in Uganda. As such; Uganda’s public universities need to take deliberate measures to raise the self-efficacy of academic staff. On top of providing a conducive working environment and formulating policies targeting improved job satisfaction such as; recognizing excellent performance and delegating leadership roles to academic staff that are not part of management, regular monitoring of academic staff performance should be undertaken for timely corrective action to mitigate any counterproductive behaviour due to complacency or familiarity.

Keywords: Self-efficacy, job satisfaction, performance, moderation, academic staff and public universities.