A Study on the Factors Influencing Employee Motivation and its Impact on Job Performance in Higher Education Institutions in Sultanate of Oman

The study investigates the impact of intrinsic and extrinsic motivational factors on employee performance in a selected higher education institution in the Sultanate of Oman. A random sample of 186 employees were chosen through the stratified random sampling technique. The result showed that the most consistent variable among the intrinsic factors that influence the employee performance is the working conditions and among the extrinsic factors it is the Salary and increments. The least consistent intrinsic variable is the Staff development and least consistent extrinsic variable is promotion and growth. There is a weak positive relationship between the intrinsic variables and employee performance except for employee empowerment showing a weak negative relationship with the performance of the employees. Similarly, there is a weak positive relationship between all extrinsic variables and employee performance except for promotion and growth variable which shows a weak negative relationship with the employee performance. The intrinsic variables namely employee engagement, employee empowerment and staff development and the extrinsic variables namely promotion and growth and Job Security have significant impact on the performance of the employees. The study recommends that the institution shall focus on employee empowerment and engagement strategies, design the staff development activities giving emphasis to relevance and suitability and improve promotion/growth opportunities so as to improve the motivation of employees which can lead to better employee performance.