Human Resource Practices and Employee Performance in Montserrado Local Government-Liberia

ABSTRACT The study established the effect of human resource practices on employee performance in Montserrado County in Monrovia, Liberia, three specific objectives guided this study and these were i) determining the effect of promotional opportunities on employee performance in Montserrado County in Monrovia, Liberia; ii) establishing the effect of training opportunities on employee performance in Montserrado County in Monrovia, Liberia, and (iii) investigating the effect of performance appraisals on employee performance in Montserrado County in Monrovia, Liberia. The study adopted the following designs; descriptive correlational to measure the degree of association between variables, cross-sectional research design was used because data was drawn/collected from a wide spread of respondents and multiple linear regression analysis was used to establish the significant effect between variables. The study used a research population of 200 and a sample size of 133. The findings indicated that promotional opportunities significantly affects employee performance in Montserrado County in Monrovia, Liberia, the findings revealed that there is a significant effect training opportunities has on employee performance in Montserrado County in Monrovia Liberia and the findings of this study proved a positive significant effect performance appraisal has on employee performance in Montserrado County in Monrovia, Liberia. The researcher concluded that; promotional opportunities has a positive significant effect on employee performance in Montserrado County in Monrovia, Liberia, hence concluding that promotional opportunities contribute to employee performance in Montserrado County in Monrovia, Liberia, and finally performance appraisal has a positive significant effect on employee performance in Montserrado County in Monrovia, Liberia, hence concluding that good performance appraisal increases the level of employee performance in Montserrado County in Monrovia, Liberia and poor performance appraisal system reduces it. The researcher recommended that; the management of Montserrado County should make sure that promotions are based on how well an employee does the work but not basing on tribe and religion, the employees in Montserrado County should have the opportunity to have ‘a say’ in organizational policies and decisions that affect them, this can be done by allowing employees to attend meetings and let them contribute during decision making, and the dimensions of access to services should always be a pre-condition for quality in Montserrado County in Monrovia, Liberia. The study contributed to new knowledge by identifying different human resource practices used in Montserrado County in Monrovia, Liberia which included promotional opportunities, training opportunities and performance appraisals. The following are the measurements of employee performance in Montserrado County in Monrovia, Liberia; work efficiency, service delivery and goal accomplishment.

TABLE OF CONTENT

DECLARATION ....................................................................................................i

APPROVAL .........................................................................................................ii

DEDICATION .................................................................................................... iii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT........................................................................................iv

ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................... viii

CHAPTER ONE...........................................................................................viii

INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................... 1

1.0 Introduction .................................................................................................1

1.1 Background of the study ............................................................................1

1.1.1 Historical perspective .................................................................................1

1.1.2 Theoretical perspective ..............................................................................2

1.1.3 Conceptual perspective ..............................................................................3

1.1.4 Contextual perspective...............................................................................4

1.2 Statement of the Problem .............................................................................5

1.3 Purpose of the study.....................................................................................6

1.4 Research Objectives .....................................................................................6

1.5 Research questions.......................................................................................6

1.6 Hypothesis ...................................................................................................6

1.7 Scope ..........................................................................................................7

1.7.1 Geographical of the Study ..........................................................................7

1.7.2. Theoretical Scope .....................................................................................7

1.7.3. Content scope ..........................................................................................7

1.8 Significance of the Study...............................................................................7

1.9 Operational definition of key terms ................................................................8

CHAPTER TWO.......................................................................................... 10

LITERATURE REVIEW............................................................................... 10

2.0 Introduction ...............................................................................................10

vi

2.1 Theoretical review ......................................................................................10

2.2 Conceptual frame work ...............................................................................12

2.3 Related literature........................................................................................13

2.4 Related studies...........................................................................................17

2.5 Research Gaps ...........................................................................................28

CHAPTER THREE....................................................................................... 29

METHODOLOGY ........................................................................................ 29

3.0 Introduction ...............................................................................................29

3.1 Research Design.........................................................................................29

3.2 Research Population ...................................................................................29

3.3 Sample Size ...............................................................................................29

3.4 Sampling Procedures ..................................................................................30

3.5 Data sources ..............................................................................................31

3.6 Data collection instruments .........................................................................31

3.6.1 Questionnaires.........................................................................................31

3.6.2 Interview guide .......................................................................................31

3.7 Data quality control ....................................................................................32

3.7.1 Validity....................................................................................................32

3.7.2 Reliability ................................................................................................33

3.8 Data gathering procedures ..........................................................................34

3.9 Data Analysis .............................................................................................35

3.10 Ethical Consideration.................................................................................36

CHAPTER FOUR ........................................................................................ 37

PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF RESULTS .......... 37

4.0 Introduction ...............................................................................................37

4.1 Profile of respondents .................................................................................37

4.2 Human resource practices ...........................................................................39

Table 4.2: Human resource practices.................................................................40

vii

4.3 Employee performance ...............................................................................42

4.5 Objective two;............................................................................................47

CHAPTER FIVE.......................................................................................... 51

DICUSSIONS, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ....................... 51

5.0 Introduction ...............................................................................................51

5.1 Discussions ................................................................................................51

5.2 Conclusions ................................................................................................54

5.3 Recommendations ......................................................................................55

5.5 Areas for further research ...........................................................................56

REFERENCES ...................................................................................................57

APPENDIX I .....................................................................................................61

 RESEARCH INSTRUMENT ................................................................................61