Value Orientation of Employees and its Impact on Performance: Is Religiosity a Major Contributor?

Abstract

This study empirically explores and validates the relationship of individual religiosity and value orientation on employee work performance. This behavioural construct has been discussed marginally in literature and empirical validation is completely missing. The study is conducted on employees of higher education institutions n=240. Two standard inventories- Personal Value Questionnaire PVQ by Sherry and Verma 1998 and Religiosity Scale Sethi and Seligman 1993 have been used for the purpose. Performance indicators have been measured using Performance Based Appraisal System by University Grant Commission, India. The findings of the study report that there are four prominent values social, democratic, economic and power values which have a direct impact on employees’ performance. Religiosity as a contributor towards these values have a direct relationship with social and democratic values, with p value being less than 0.05 and β value of 0.31 and 0.17. While economic and power values are observed to have an inverse relationship with religiosity, with p value being less than 0.05 and β value of -0.37 and -0.33. The study also reports that social and democratic values have positive influence on employee performance. The β value of regression analysis is observed to be ranging from 0.16 to 0.37 determining the strengths of these relationships. Whereas, we identify that economic and power values negatively influence performance of employees. This study underscores the role of religiosity as a contributor towards value orientation of employees for their performance outcomes. It has strong managerial implications for hiring, career planning, and succession planning, compensation and reward management systems in organizations. It also highlights the role of leadership for creating value based organization culture.