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Factors Influencing

Individual Performance In
An Indonesian Government
Office
Azizatul Munawaroh Corina D. S. Riantoputra Sally Bethesda Marpaung
Ministry of Finance Republic of Indonesia Universitas Indonesia Universitas Indonesia
azizatul.m@depkeu.go.id corina.r@ui.ac.id

Reformation in Indonesian government offices leads to many substantial changes, and demands
improved job performances while arguably loading employees with more work. This research aims Abstract
to understand factors that potentially influence job performance in Indonesian government of-
fices that carries on such reformation. Using adapted scales from previous studies, this research
investigates the role of workload, responsibility for others (level of responsibility to care for other
people) and need for achievement on employee’s performance. A survey to all full-time workers in
an Indonesian government office is conducted. Contrary to expectation, workload does not influ-
ence employee’s performance. Instead, regression analysis demonstrates that, employee’s need for
achievement and responsibility for others are significant factors affecting individual performance.
These results are important because they highlight the significance of need for achievement for the
success of reformation in this office, and by extension for reformation in Indonesia. The results are
also interesting because this is the first study that points out to the role of responsibility for others in
influencing individual performance in Indonesia which is characterized by collectivistic culture. This
paper discusses the contributions of these results for theory and practice.

Keywords: Indonesian public, need for achievement, responsibility for others, work-
load.

T
he rapid development of sci- for bureaucratic reformation in Indo-
ence, internet, and informa- nesia. Bureaucratic reformation is a
tion technology, as well as the strategic step to build excellent gov-
changing nature of strategic environ- ernment institutions, to improve the
ment requires excellent service and role of civil servants, and to sustain
support from governments. Unfor- national development. In other words,
tunately, there are many cases of im- bureaucratic reformation is needed
proper governance systems in Indo- to fulfill dynamic changes in society.
nesia which debilitate the government Formally, bureaucratic reformation is
responses and give rise to the demand defined as a continuous and gradual

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transformation process to achieve potential conflict between employees


good governance in government insti- as each employee can only do their job
tutions. This process consists of many well if their coworkers conduct satis-
steps in the implementation phase, and factory work performances.
requires competent human resources.
In this paper, employee’s performance
Pilot Office A is one of part Vertical is defined as actions and accomplish-
Office Unit in Directory of Treasury, ment that are expected to be supplied
Ministry of Finance that is chosen as by individuals in the time set (Roa,
one of the first Indonesian government 2004). Because employees should
institutions to implement bureaucratic perform work in accordance with the
reformation. As a public service pro- tasks in the job description, their as-
vider, Pilot Office A has an important sessment is usually based on the job
role in budget management such as description prepared by the organiza-
budget control, and state fund efficien- tion. In other words, employee’s per-
cy. Its performance is measured by the formance may be measured in terms of
amount of government revenue, prop- the in-role behavior, or the work they
er budget management, efficiency in do in accordance with the tasks in the
budget execution, and effectiveness in job description. The purpose of this re-
state asset management. Therefore, the search is to know factors that influence
performance of Pilot Office A will af- employee performance in the Pilot Of-
fect government performance such as fice A. The aim is to understand these
delay in civil servant salary payment, factors which can be used to improve
delay in progress of government proj- organizational performance, as Daft
ects, delay in budget execution. Since (2002) argues that it is the role of the
it is chosen as a pilot project in bu- organization to improve the perfor-
reaucratic reformation, Pilot Office A mance of its employees.
is expected to improve its performance
significantly and to achieve vision and Preliminary interviews with six em-
mission of this reformation. Poor per- ployees of Pilot Office A suggest that
formance of this office may be used as individual performance at Pilot Of-
an indicator that bureaucratic reforma- fice A is potentially influenced by the
tion in Indonesia, especially in that of- amount of work that they do (quanti-
fice, does not work well. tative workload), the quality of work
that they are expected to do, the level
There are some changes in work de- of responsibility for people and the
mand and time pressure in this office need for achievement. This research
due to bureaucratic reformation. For is conducted to confirm the interview
example a task that is used to be com- results.
pleted in one working day, now needs
to be accomplished in only one hour. LITERATURE REVIEW
This higher job turnaround requires
Workload is defined as the amount and
employees to work faster. If employ-
the quality of work need to be done by
ees cannot finish their work on time
a person in a certain time period (Jex,
then they will have to work overtime.
2002). Workload (quantitative and
This new requirement also produces
qualitative) could be in optimal con-

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Factors Influencing Individual Performance... Munawaroh, Riantoputra, and Marpaung

dition, excessive, or lacking. Under would directly influence mental work-


conditions of excessive workload, the load causing participants of their study
individual must meet more obligations to engage in high cognitive effort that
than s/he is able to do in the time avail- produces stress.
able. Conversely, in the lack of work-
load conditions, individual is working In addition to cognitive or mental work
below his / her capacity (Watt, 2002). produces by workload, time pres-
Both conditions, having to do too sure may also generate perception of
much or too little, may not be good workload. Binnewies, Sonnentag and
for employee’s performance, because Mojza (2009) conducted a research
both conditions may trigger stress. using daily survey that able to portray
individual’s perception of time pres-
Specifically, Ivancevich and Mat- sure and their job performance. From
teson (2005) argue that one key as- their 99 participants they conclude
pect of stress is workload. When em- that it is time pressure that reduces
ployees are expected to do too many job performance. Galy, Carious and
things within a limited time period, or Melan (2011) explain that, although
to perform with a much higher qual- time pressure has no affect on work-
ity that his capacity, employees may load, it activates emotional component
experience stress, and lower his/her that affect cognitive load. Thus, time
performance (Schultz, 2006). Web- pressure generates perception of work-
ster, Beehr and Love (2011) demon- load, which then limits individual per-
strate how workload influences level formance.
of stress. Their respondents were 479
employees, majority were women In brief, the relationship between
with the average age was 45. They workload and outcomes may depend
found that although workload could upon the intensity of the stress created
be appraised primarily as challenges by workload, its duration, the number
or hindrances, they could also simulta- of operative stressors, and alternatives
neously be perceived as being both to the individual sees as being available
varying degrees. In other words, work- to him or her. Whereas workload and
load potentially influences stress. health complaints were related only
indirectly through work-home inter-
Webster, Beehr and Love (2011) ex- ference, a direct relationship existed
plain that experiencing high job de- between workload and work-related
mands (e.g. workload and responsibil- negative affect (Geurts et al., 2003).
ity) requires effort that is unavoidably Negative affect such as feeling angry,
associated with strain (e.g. acceler- frustrated or irritated (either or not
ated heart rate or acute fatigue). Even work-related) might be an acute and
if people do not experience psycho- direct response to workload (or daily
logical strain, it is likely that stress- hassles in general) that appears and
ors such as workload cause people to disappears more easily. Therefore, we
work harder and longer, which may hypothesize that:
impact their physical health. Through
their research, Galy, Cariou and Melan H1: There is a significant negative re-
(2011) demonstrate that task difficulty lationship between the amount of

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work (quantitative workload) and H3: There is a significant negative re-


employee performance. lationship between responsibility
H2: There is a significant negative re- for others and employee’s perfor-
lationship between the quality of mance
work (qualitative workload) and According to Robbins and Judge
employee performance. (2010), need for achievement is a ne-
While workload refers to the amount cessity to achieve success. McClelland
of quality of work need to be done by (1987) defines the need for achieve-
the person him/herself, responsibility ment motivation as that drives one to
for people refers to the duty to take achieve success in competing with
of other people’s performance or well a size advantage (standard of excel-
being. In many cases responsibility lence). McClelland (1987) found that
towards others is a potential source of individuals with high achievement in-
stress, because it is related with factors dividuals distinguish themselves from
outside the control of the employees. others by their desire to do things bet-
Ivancevich and Matteson (2005) spe- ter. They are looking for situations
cifically argue that having responsi- where they can get a personal respon-
bility for other people’s well being sibility to find solutions to problems,
and careers may trigger high level of can receive immediate feedback on
pressure and producing a lot of stress. performance so it can easily determine
Consequently, responsibility for others whether they are growing, and where
may lower employee’s performance. they can find a goal that is challenging
enough for them (or the medium level
of risk). When these characteristics are
Contrary to Ivancevich and Matteson
prevalent, high-achieving individuals
(2005), Li (2009) asserts that by mak-
will be very motivated.
ing a worker directly responsible for
another’s person welfare, a strong in-
centive is potentially created. In a series Lee, Sheldon and Turban (2003) define
of six experiments, Li (2009) explores achievement goal patterns or goal ori-
six conditions under which social in- entation as how individuals perceive
centives may be more motivating than and respond to achievement situation.
direct pay-for-performance incentives. They conducted a research that exam-
Li (2009) finds that high performance ines how 3 personality characteristics,
standards motivate high performance derived from self-determination theory
under direct incentives but that social (autonomy, control, and motivated ori-
incentives generate a consistent level entations), influence performance and
of motivation that does not vary by enjoyment through achievement goal
performance standard. Li also finds patterns, goal level, and mental focus.
that social incentives, but not direct Data were collected from 284 students
incentives, are more motivating under at five different points in time, from
conditions designed to increase feel- which they concluded that different
ings of responsibility toward the other personality types affect different men-
person or increase the cost of disap- tal focuses which then affect the effort
pointing the other person. Thus, we allocated to achieve goal and to enjoy
hypothesize that: their performance.

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Factors Influencing Individual Performance... Munawaroh, Riantoputra, and Marpaung

Table 1. Reliability
Variables Reliability Cronbach’s Alpha N of Items
Individual Performance 0.804 6
Workload quantitative 0.403 5
Workload qualitative 0.510 5
Responsibility for people 0.742 5
Need for Achievement 0.464 4

Further, George and Jones (2002) ar- need for achievement (McClelland,
gue that individuals with a high need 1987). These scales are chosen be-
of achievement have a special desire cause they are commonly used in or-
to perform challenging tasks well and ganizational behavior research.
to meet their own personal standards
for excellence. They like to be in situ- In role behavior (Van Dyne and Yee,
ations in which they are personally re- 2005) is used to measure performance.
sponsible for what happens, like to set It consists of two dimensions: (1) job
clear goals for themselves, are willing knowledge and accuracy of work, and
to take personal responsibility for out- (2) productivity. This tool has 6 items
comes, and like to receive performance with Likert scale from 1 to 6: 1 is for
feedback. In brief, need for achieve- Never, 2 is for Rarely, 3 is for Some-
ment have been linked to various out- times, 4 is for Often, 5 is for More Of-
comes such as performance, intrinsic ten, 6 is for Always.
motivation, response to feedback, and
sales performance (Lee, Sheldon, and Stres Diagnostic Survey (Ivancev-
Turban, 2003). Thus, we hypothesize ich and Matteson, 1987) is measur-
that: ing instrument that is used to measure
stress level at workplace. There are
H4: There is a significant positive 15 statements to measure three work
relationship between need for stress aspect: workload quantitative,
achievement and employee’s per- workload qualitative, and responsibil-
formance. ity for people. This tool uses Likert
scale from 1 to 6. Need for achieve-
RESEARCH METHOD
ment, McClelland (1987) consists of 4
This research is non-experimental re- items. Span of valuation is from -3 to
search where variables are not manip- +3. However, to simplify and to avoid
ulated and controlled by the research- negative response from respondents,
ers because the manifest is in progress the researchers change the valuation to
and cannot be manipulated (Kerlinger Likert Scale from 1 (very inappropri-
and Lee, 2000). The respondents are ate) to 6 (very appropriate).
all fulltime workers in the Pilot Office
A (i.e., 56 employees). The question- Cronbach alpha (α) is used to test data
naire consists of three measurements, reliability in this research. Kerlinger
which are adapted and modified from and Lee (2000) stated that measur-
performance scale. The scales are in ing tools are reliable if its coefficient
Role Behavior (Van Dyne and Yee, α is from 050 to 0.60. However, Ka-
2005), Stress Diagnostic Survey (Iv- plan and Saccuzzo (2005) convey that
ancevich and Matteson, 1987) and measuring instruments are reliable if

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Table 2. Mean and Standart Deviation (SD)


Variables Mean SD
Indivual Performance 5.25 0.720
Workload quantitative 2.77 0.934
Workload qualitative 2.43 0.710
Responsibility for people 2.06 1.375
Need for Achievement 4.09 0.721

Table 3. Analysis Result Simple Regression


(Coefficient β, F-value of R and value of Δ R2)
(n = 56)
Individual Performance
Model
Workload quantitative -0.029
Workload qualitative -0.277
Responsibility for people 0.310**
Need for Achievement 0.291*
Value of R 0.472a
Value of R2 0.223
Value of F 3.662
*. P<.05, **. P<0.01 (2-tailed)

its coefficient α is from 0.70 to 0.80. Table 3). Results show that employee
Table 1 shows the reliability score of workload, in terms of the amount and
each scale. It shows that all scales but quality of work, has no relationship
one (qualitative workload) have ac- with employee’s performance. In other
ceptable reliability score according to words, there is no support for H1 and
Kerlinger and Lee (2000). H2, and can be concluded that in Pilot
Office A, employee’s performance is
RESULT AND DISCUSSION not influenced by the amount of work
or the quality of work that is expected
Table 2 demonstrates that employee’s
from them. Responsibility for people,
in Pilot Office A perceived that they
however, has a positive and significant
performed their job quite well (Means
relationship (see Table 3). It suggests
of 5.25 from a six point scale). They
that, in Pilot Office A, employees tend
also perceive that their workloads
to perform better when they perceive
(quantitative and qualitative work-
that they have higher responsibility
loads) are at a medium to low level
for people. This result is not expected
(mean below 3 in a six point scale),
(H3 is not supported). Finally, table 3
and their need for achievement is at
shows that need for achievement has
a moderate to high level (mean score
significant and positive relationship
4 in a six point scale). Their level of
with employee’s performance (H4 is
responsibilities for people, however, is
accepted). It means that employee’s
at a low level (mean score: 2.06 in a
tend to perform better when they have
six point scale).
a high need for achievement.
To test the hypothesized relationships
CONCLUSION
and know which factors influence em-
ployee’s performance in Pilot Office A, The purpose of this research is to
we conducted a simple regression (see know several factors that influence

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Factors Influencing Individual Performance... Munawaroh, Riantoputra, and Marpaung

employee’s performance in a govern- in this quarter. Further research may


ment institution in Indonesia that car- want to investigate the relationship be-
ries on a reformation. Results suggest tween employees’ workload and their
some interesting contributions. Before performances during the times of high
discussing the contributions, it should pressure (October – December).
be noted that the questionnaires in this
study have reliability scores from 0.5 This finding is consistent with Galy,
to 0.8. The scales with reliability score Cariou and Melan (2012) who argue
0.5 are workload and need for achieve- that task difficulty affect only partici-
ment, suggesting that the internal con- pants’ perception of cognitive efforts
sistency of the scales are not high. Fu- needed to perform the task. When em-
ture research need to adapt and modify ployees have to think harder or to put
the scales to get measurements with more effort to analyze and finish their
better Cronbach Alpha scores. Fur- tasks, cognitive load or qualitative
ther, the measurement in this study is a load will be increased. In the second
self-report measurement with a limita- quarter (April – June), the difficulty of
tion that people tend to picture them- the job is not high, the cognitive effort
selves in a more favorable way and do is moderate, and therefore workload
not portray the real situation (Bakker, does not show significant relationship
et al, 2007). with employee’s performance.

Although the study has some limita- The current research also support
tions, it produces many significant Webster, Beehr and Love (2011) who
contributions for theory and practice. argue that individual’s appraisal is the
It demonstrates that, firstly, quanti- key factor in explaining the relation-
tative and qualitative workload has ship between workload and job per-
no relationship with employee’s per- formance. When individuals perceive
formance. These results differ from workload as challenges they may not
previous studies that show negative be debilitated by stress, and thus per-
relationship between workload and formance may not be impacted. Thus,
employee’s performance (Ivancevich the relationship between workload and
and Matteson, 2005; Schultz, 2006). job performance is influenced by indi-
This difference could occur because vidual tendency, including individual
the level of workload in Office Pilot A personality type.
is only at a moderate level. It indicates
that a moderate level of workload may Learning from Lee, Sheldon and Tur-
not cause stress that impairs individual ban (2003) that show the importance
performance. This result is especially of personality type on individual’s
relevant because it was conducted in tendency to perform better, future re-
May 2012 (second quarter) where the search may want know more about
stakeholders had not request payment influence of personality in relationship
from government fund. However, the between workload and performance.
research may produce different finding One such example is a research by
if it was conducted during the months Cox-Fuenzalida, Swickert and Hittner
of October to December (fourth quar- (2004) who argue that higher levels of
ter), because the workload will be high neuroticism would be associated with

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significant decrements in performance cause stress that harm employee’s per-


following changes in workload his- formance (Ivancevic and Matteson,
tory. It appears that, at least in terms of 2005). The findings of the current study
reaction time, either a sudden increase may occur because of two reasons.
or decrease in workload can produce a Firstly, the level of responsibility for
significant performance decrement for people in Pilot Office A is at a low lev-
those scoring higher in neuroticism. el (mean score 2.06 in a 1-6 scale) sug-
In addition, the role of optimism and gesting that this level of responsibility
pessimism may also influence indi- does not cause stress. That is why their
vidual’s appraisal of workload which relationship with employee’s perfor-
then may impact performance. Fu- mance is positive. Secondly, as argued
ture research may want to learn from, by Griffin, et.al (2007), individual task
Szalma (2009) about how this type of behavior may affect team outcomes.
personality influence coping responses In other words, it can be assumed that
and job performance. responsibility toward others indirectly
influence team performance. Apply-
Secondly, the current research con- ing that logic, it could be that, in Pi-
tributes in demonstrating that employ- lot Office A individual performance is
ees’ performance is positively influ- triggered by other employee’s perfor-
enced by their needs for achievement. mance to increase their team effective-
This result is in line with the need ness, which in turn influence their per-
for achievement research that was formance. The relative importance of
conducted by McClelland (1987). In these behaviors may vary depending
achievement motivation, McClelland on several factors such as the level of
find out that to achieve better perfor- task interdependence in a team, nature
mance, people with high achievement of jobs and type of organizations (pub-
motivation act differ from others. They lic or private organizations).
tend to seek moderately challenging
goals and objectives, to seek situa- Finally, the positive and significant re-
tions that allow them to solve prob- lationship between responsibility for
lems and to receive positive feedback people and employee’s performance
about their performance. Because the in this data set suggests that for Indo-
workload level of employees’ in Pilot nesian people responsibility for people
Office A is at a moderate level (mean may trigger their tendency to perform
score 2.77 for quantitative workload better. One possible explanatory vari-
and 2.43 for qualitative workload), it able to explain this result is the collec-
allows people with need for achieve- tivistic nature of Indonesian people.
ment to do their job well. Collectivists define the self as inter-
connectedness and interdependence
The third contribution of this research with significant others of various
is related to its finding that show posi- groups. Collective interests have pri-
tive relationship between employee’s macy in collectivistic cultures (Trian-
performance and responsibilities for dis, 1995 in Chen, Peng and Saparito,
others. This result is not consistent 2002). Further, collectivism is associ-
with previous studies which demon- ated with a sense of duty toward one’s
strate that responsibility for others group, interdependence with others, a

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Factors Influencing Individual Performance... Munawaroh, Riantoputra, and Marpaung

desire for social harmony, and confor- fore, responsibilities for others in this
mity with group norms. In this view, kind of culture may produce positive
behavior and attitudes of collectivists drive for employees to perform better.
are determined by norms and demands We call for further research in this area
of the in-group such as extended fam- to test the relationship in other venues
ily or close-knit community (Green, and other collectivistic cultures. By so
Deschamps and Paez, 2005). People doing, there is a possibility to advance
in a collectivistic culture tend to con- organizational behavior theory espe-
struct their meanings of live in terms cially in understanding on individual
of their relationship with others, not and cultural factors affecting individ-
in term of their individual jobs. There- ual behavior.

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