INFLUENCE OF INTRINSIC REWARDS ON EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE IN SUGAR COMPANIES IN WESTERN KENYA

Intrinsic motivation occurs when people engage in an activity such as a hobby without external incentives. Social and educational psychologists have studied this form of motivation since the early 1970’s. Research has found that it is usually associated with high achievement and enjoyment by employees. Research has shown that increased workforce motivation contributes to increased productivity and innovation, creative problem solving, reduced turnover and decreased absenteeism. However, these past researches have never touched on how quality of work, punctuality and commitment influence employee performance. This research therefore seeks to fill this gap. The objectives of the study were to determine the influence of intrinsic rewards on employee performance, to assess the influence of organizational factors on the relationship between intrinsic rewards and employee performance, to determine the influence of organizational factors on employee performance. It was hypothesized that, intrinsic rewards have no statistical significant influence on employee performance, organizational factors have no statistical significant influence on the relationship between intrinsic rewards and employee performance and organizational factors have no statistical significant influence on employee performance. The study was conducted in four sugar companies in the western Kenya. Employees at all levels of management were sampled. The research adopted the descriptive survey research design. The target population was 2000 employees of Mumias sugar company, Nzoia Sugar Company, West Kenya Sugar Company and Butali Sugar Company. Systematic random sampling was used to get the sample size of 200 employees. Data was collected using questionnaires, for primary data. Pretesting of the instruments was conducted to 15 employees of Chemilil Sugar Company. Reliability of data was measured using cronbach’s alpha coefficient. Data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics, using SPSS (version 20.0).Results indicated that, there existed a positive influence between intrinsic rewards and employee performance, organizational factors positively moderated the relationship between intrinsic rewards and employee performance and lastly, organizational factors had a statistically significant positive influence on employee performance. This study contributed to the advancement of academic knowledge on the utilization of proper rewarding strategies in enhancing employee performance in sugar companies. The study will provide empirical evidence on the moderating effects of organization training and development and working experience on the relationship between intrinsic rewards and employee performance in sugar companies. It was recommended that rewards should be given in public so as this will encourage hard work among employees and enhance equity. Supervisors in sugar manufacturing firms should closely monitor employees after training to make sure that they are implementing what they learnt. Deliberate action should be taken by sugar manufacturing companies to develop strong organizational cultures geared towards employee performance.