The Determinants of Employee Performance in Education Sector: The Case of EMU

Due to the significant role played by the higher education sector in North Cyprus over the last two decades, the interplay between the motivation and performance dimensions among higher education sector employees has been a main concern. In this respect, employee motivation presents itself as an important area for investigation together with other factors that influence employee performance. This study analyses the determinants of employee performance in the higher education sector by empirically analyzing the significance for performance of four factors namely employee motivation, employee rewards, employee training and employee promotion. The empirical work is carried out in the oldest and one of the largest universities in Eastern Mediterranean University-North Cyprus. Regression analysis, t-test and ANOVA analysis are conducted to examine the relationship between employee performance and its determinants. One hundred and fifty responses are collected using questionnaires from various staff members of the Eastern Mediterranean University for analysis. The results revealed that with the exception of employee promotion, the rest of the factors, i.e. employee motivation, reward, and training are all significant and have a positive influence on the employee performance in the higher education sector. The results also suggest that the participants do not consider the concept of promotion as being influential on employee performance whereas reward, and training as well as motivation are important determinants of employee performance in the Eastern Mediterranean University. Keywords: Employee performance, regression analysis, higher education sector, Eastern Mediterranean University, North Cyprus