Priviet Social Sciences Journal
Vol. 6 No. 7 (2026): July 2026

Work motivation, work environment, and workload-competence fit as correlates of employee performance in an Indonesian District Health Office

Syaharani Irawan (Universitas Asahan)
Surya Bakti (Universitas Asahan)



Article Info

Publish Date
31 Jul 2026

Abstract

Public health administration in decentralised systems depends on the productivity of district-level civil servants who translate national policy into local service delivery, yet the antecedents of their performance remain under-examined outside Western corporate settings. This study tested work motivation, work environment, and workload as simultaneous predictors of employee performance in a district health authority in North Sumatra, Indonesia, using Job Demands–Resources theory as the organising framework. A census of the entire civil-service establishment produced complete responses from 70 employees on a 23-item Likert instrument. Ordinary least squares regression showed that the predictors jointly explained a substantial share of performance variance, F(3, 66) = 15.521, p < .001, R² = .414, adjusted R² = .387. At a two-tailed α = .05, however, only work motivation reached significance (b = 0.409, β = .301, t = 2.793, p = .007). Work environment (b = 0.339, β = .275, p = .076) and workload (b = 0.366, β = .192, p = .081) were positive but not significant, each uniquely explaining under 3% of variance while sharing substantial variance with one another (tolerance = .382 and .389). The findings indicate that in a rule-bound bureaucracy with homogeneous physical conditions and secure tenure, individual motivational states carry more explanatory weight than ambient job context, and that a workload calibrated to employee competence behaves as a challenge rather than a hindrance demand. Managerial effort is therefore better directed at recognition and career architecture than at facility investment.

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Journal Info

Abbrev

PSSJ

Publisher

Subject

Economics, Econometrics & Finance Education Environmental Science Law, Crime, Criminology & Criminal Justice Social Sciences

Description

PSSJ: Priviet Social Sciences Journal is an open access, monthly peer-reviewed international journal published by PRIVIETLAB. It provides an avenue to academicians, researchers, managers and others to publish their research work that contributes to the knowledge and theory of Social Sciences. PSSJ ...