The role of middle managers’ motivation on the relationship between managerial skills training and their own job performance the case of manufacturing industry in vietnam

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI VIETNAM JAPAN UNIVERSITY PHAM TUAN MINH THE ROLE OF MIDDLE MANAGERS’ MOTIVATION ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MANAGERIAL SKILLS TRAINING AND THEIR OWN

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

VIETNAM JAPAN UNIVERSITY

PHAM TUAN MINH

THE ROLE OF MIDDLE MANAGERS’ MOTIVATION ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MANAGERIAL SKILLS TRAINING AND THEIR OWN JOB PERFORMANCE: THE CASE OF

MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY IN

VIETNAM

MASTER’S THESIS

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

VIETNAM JAPAN UNIVERSITY

PHAM TUAN MINH

THE ROLE OF MIDDLE MANAGERS’ MOTIVATION ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MANAGERIAL SKILLS TRAINING AND THEIR OWN JOB PERFORMANCE: THE CASE OF

My thankful thoughts also dedicate to all other lecturers and assistants from Vietnam Japan University and Yokohama National University, also to all invited lecturers participating in this MBA program during the fourth intake Their exemplary knowledge, effort, and devotion bring to students unlimited opportunities to learn and improve themselves, of which the completion of this research can be considered as one

of the most fruitful outcomes

In addition, I would also like to thank nearly 140 middle managers with different titles, from various sectors of the manufacturing industry across Vietnam, who have spent their valuable time to answer the survey seriously, as well as assist to introduce the survey to the right respondents during the difficult situation caused by the Covid-19

Last but not least, my dearest words would like to come to all my family members and classmates, whose encouragement and support have been indispensable for me to be able to complete the extremely challenging journey during the past memorable two years of my life./

SUMMARY

Not fully basing on any classic theories of work motivation or performance to

propose a quite new research model, which put together Managerial Skills Training,

Work Motivation, and Job Performance to test their roles and interrelationship, the thesis

can touch some facets of these extremely complex, frequently-studied dimensions in the

field of human resources management and I/O psychology

The final results once again confirm and strengthen the traditional concept

regarding work motivation and its dichotomy between intrinsic – extrinsic types These

two dimensions, due to their opposite in nature, hardly share the same model of effects

on job performance Besides, intrinsic motivation is considered to be much more

beneficial to the organizations than the extrinsic one, in long term, as it can positively

support and strengthen the individual job performance of middle managers Therefore,

firms and their management teams should focus on investing intrinsic motivation,

especially while designing training programs and strategies for middle managers in the

manufacturing industry in Vietnam

However, this small research still contains several drawbacks and shortcomings

that possibly affect the accuracy of the final results, more or less These weaknesses

should be carefully evaluated and fixed in future studies relating to this topic

TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF TABLES i

LIST OF FIGURES ii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS iii

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Research background 1

1.2 Research purpose 4

1.3 Research questions 6

1.4 Scope of research 7

1.5 Research structure 7

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 9

2.1 Managerial skills training 9

2.2 Job performance 11

2.3 Work motivation 13

2.3.1 Definitions 13

2.3.2 Work motivation and job performance 15

2.3.3 Work motivation and (managerial) skills training 16

2.4 Research gap 17

2.5 Propose the research model & Hypotheses 17

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 20

3.1 Research design 20

3.2 Survey plan 20

3.3.1 Variables 20

3.3.2 Questionnaire 21

3.3.3 Sampling and data collection 25

3.3 Plan for data analysis 26

3.3.1 Reliability analysis 26

3.3.2 Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) 26

3.3.3 Pearson’s correlation 27

3.3.4 Regression method 27

CHAPTER 4: RESULTS ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION 29

4.1 Respondents’ profiles 29

4.2.1 Independent variable 31

4.2.2 Motivational variables 32

4.2.2 Dependent variable 34

4.3 Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) 36

4.3.1 Independent variable 36

4.3.2 Motivational variables 37

4.3.3 Dependent variable 38

4.3.4 Wrap-up of EFA results 40

4.4 Pearson correlation 41

4.5 Causal relations between dependent variables and predictors 41

4.6 Mediating analysis 45

4.7 Moderating analysis 46

4.8 Hypotheses testing results 48

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS 49

5.1 Conclusions 49

5.2 Implications 50

5.3 Limitations 51

REFERENCES 52

LIST OF TABLES

Table 2.1: Dimensions of job performance and its variables 12

Table 3.1: The 5-point Likert scale values of agreement level 21

Table 3.2: The question items for Motivation 22

Table 3.3: The question items for Managerial skills training 23

Table 3.4: The question items for Job performance 23

Table 4.1: Respondents’ profile by geography 29

Table 4.2: Respondents’ profile by gender 29

Table 4.3: Respondents’ profile by age 30

Table 4.4: Cross-tabulation of variables EDU and DGR 30

Table 4.5: Cross-tabulation of variables EXP and EDU 31

Table 4.6: Cross-tabulation of variables EXP and DGR 31

Table 4.7: Reliability test of the independent variable 32

Table 4.8: Reliability test of Extrinsic motivation 33

Table 4.9: Reliability test of Intrinsic motivation 33

Table 4.10: Reliability test of the dependent variable 35

Table 4.11: Component matrix of independent variable after EFA 37

Table 4.12: Rotated component matrix of work motivation 38

Table 4.13: Rotated component matrix of the dependent variable 40

Table 4.14: Summarized results after EFA 40

Table 4.15: Correlation coefficients between variables 41

Table 4.16: Regression results of simultaneous effects of predictors 42

Table 4.17: Regression results for EM separately 43

Table 4.18: Regression results for IM separately 44

Table 4.19: Test for mediating role of intrinsic motivation 45

Table 4.20: Test for moderating role of intrinsic motivation 47

Table 4.21: Summarization of hypotheses testing results 47

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 2.1: Research model A - Mediating effect 18

Figure 2.2: Research model B - Moderating effect 18

Figure 5.1: The mediating effect model of intrinsic motivation 49

Figure 5.2: The moderating effect of intrinsic motivation 49

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

DGR: Educational degree

EDU: Educational background

EFA: Exploratory factor analysis

EM: Extrinsic motivation

EXP: (Years of) experience in middle-level management

HRM: Human Resource Management

IM: Intrinsic motivation

IP: Interpersonal facilitation

I/O: Industrial / Organizational (Psychologists)

JD: Job dedication

JP: Job performance

MOIT: Ministry of Industry and Trade

MOV: Work motivation

MST: Managerial skills training

OP: Overall performance

PMST: Perceived managerial skills training

PTE: Perceived training effectiveness

PTO: Perceived training opportunity

PJP: Perceived job performance

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Research background

In a developing economy like Vietnam, the matter of “job performance” seems

to be emphasized more and more frequently, attracts big interest from every stakeholder, who want to take advantage of the strong momentum of a dynamic economy The collective performance of a firm or company has continuously been taken care of by all the investors, shareholders, and policymakers since the starting days of every business Meanwhile, individual performance, which is obviously among the most crucial contributors to the collective performance, in many cases, usually catches the remarkable attention of the board of management only when the collective performance cannot reach its target, or when there is some arisen issue of human resources When such a situation happens, the reality shows that the middle manager position frequently has to bear the highest pressure, not the top management nor the entry-level employees Because middle managers are considered as the backbone of each enterprise when they are the links from the top managers to the lowest level staff Therefore, middle managers’ job performance in Vietnam deserves to be paid much higher attention to, as well as to

be researched for continuous maintenance and improvement If so, there is a reasonable question coming up: how to assess their job performance suitably? Experts have developed some specific models for a set of specific occupations, as well as for applicability across occupations (Viswesvaran & Ones, 2000) There are some commercial instruments designed specifically for managers However, in the context of this dissertation, the student would like to approach academic options Some broad performance dimensions have been suggested and widely accepted For instance, the research of (Borman & Brush, 1993) has proposed a taxonomy including leadership; interpersonal relations; technical behaviors and mechanics of management; other useful behaviors and skills Meanwhile, (van Scotter & Motowidlo, 1996) have pointed out that (1) interpersonal facilitation and (2) job dedication should be reliable, too Additionally, a study by (Kuvaas, 2006) reminds us that “overall work performance” assessed by superiors is indispensable to measure

Collaborating with mid-level managers in their works and mainly affecting their job performance as determinants, there are superiors, subordinates, peers, and customers, who possess naturally and logically different sets of characteristics in terms

of interest, demand, and capability(Harding et al., 2014) Besides, this managerial level has to directly supervise daily operational tasks, plan then achieve both short-term and mid-term goals, while at the same time must have a sense of strategic vision As proposed by (Katz, 1955, 1974) in the classic paper “Skills of an Effective Administrator”, middle managers are mostly required with a complex set of human skills (or interpersonal skills) and conceptual skills more than technical skills Saying the other way, the managerial level is required with general management skills at the same time with necessary business and professional knowledge (Yau & Sculli, 1990) This complexity of job specification requires a complex set of traits and skills, which sometimes variously differ from industry to industry, yet may be quite similar between types of business entity, such as manufacturing or trading & service Following a revelation by (Mintzberg, 1973a) in his classical book named “The Nature of Managerial Work”, there are eight basic managerial skills, including peer skills, leadership skills, conflict resolution, information processing, decision making under ambiguity, resource allocation, entrepreneurship, and introspection However, nearly three decades later, after adapting and expanding from Yukl (1994), research of (Shipper & Davy, 2002) has generated another taxonomy, which consists of six managerial skills, grouped into the interactive pattern (participation, facilitation, recognition) and initiating pattern (planning, time emphasis, control of details) The above examples represent the fact that many studies have been dedicated to pointing out specific managerial skills with large diversification All those various skills can not be inborn, they need to be trained for middle managers Because of their plenty in numbers, types, categories, it would be much more practical at first to focus on how to train those sets of skills for middle managers, especially while considering Vietnam’s young demography and the growth rate of the overall economy, also the proliferation of manufacturing industry projected

to upcoming decades Managers may be trained with inappropriate, unnecessary skills;

or lack of time attending necessary training; or on the contrary spend too much time on training without having sufficient chance to apply in reality That is to say, the perceived training opportunities and perceived training effectiveness should be seriously studied

for middle managers working in the manufacturing industry as the first step These two above dimensions can be found in several previous studies, such as in the published research of (Dysvik & Kuvaas, 2008) and (Chiaburu & Tekleab, 2005) (Shahzadi et al., 2014)

Not only skills training, but work motivation is also another variable that has been frequently researched for many decades for its influence on individual performance

As practitioners, middle managers’ work motivation need to be fostered continuously and wisely suitable with the organization's structure and resources, in tight interaction with skills training, to ensure their job performance Unfortunately, in reality, there are many challenges in achieving those goals For instance, some managers feel that they are not provided enough skills training sessions to perform well their assigned tasks Some others receive numerous training sessions that don’t match their needs and waste their working time Some unconfident managers realize deep down inside that they lack both technical and non-technical skills to complete some tasks as required, or to earn trust from colleagues Besides, it is not rare to meet drawn managers due to deficiencies

of communication skills, or because of selfishness and jealousy Last but not least, there are plenty of complaints about remuneration package, unfair promotion opportunities, dissatisfaction or disappointment at works As consequence, the individual job performance will be decreased, gradually or drastically Of course, if things happen contrarily when those obstacles are contained and vanished, we can easily guess that they will perform much better at works

To address that problem, two types of motivation (intrinsic and extrinsic) have been widely studied by psychologists, hence chosen to be analyzed in this thesis In the book “Intrinsic motivation and self-determination in human behavior” by (Deci & Ryan, 1985), intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation have been defined separately “based

on the different reasons or goals that give rise to an action”, where the prior refers to the inherent interest or joy while doing something, but the latter mostly results from an external or separate outcome because of doing that action This idea is also a part of self-determination theory Later on, there were (Ryan & Deci, 2000) again concisely stated that “to be motivated means to be moved to do something” Several years later, (Kuvaas, 2006) and (Kuvaas et al., 2017) has explicitly mentioned in their research the mediating

dependent variable In between this period, he expands this subject with the introduction

of the concept “investment in employee development” (Kuvaas & Dysvik, 2009), which

is remarkably close to the concept of training, in the independent variable of the research model However, the role of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in the relationship between managerial training skills and job performance of middle managers has never been mentioned directly and specifically For this reason, that role is tested and analyzed

in detail in the context of this dissertation The results may be useful not only for those managers but also for their organizations within the manufacturing industry in Vietnam

to understand more about the needs and behaviors of their “backbone”, as well as having additional academic references to efficiently design individual development programs and retain talents

Following the above arguments, the proliferation of the manufacturing industry makes it become the most suitable business sector for the context and audience of this thesis, due to its high applicability and its important stand within the economy Since the Doi Moi in 1986, the manufacturing industry in Vietnam has been playing an extremely crucial role, growing with tremendous steps (more than 10% per year since 2015) to help the country and many people escape poverty, paving the way to realize and upper-middle-income economy by 2030, as well as a high-income economy by 2045 The manufacturing industry has deservedly been among the vital engine for Vietnam’s

economy during the recent three decades, accounting for more than 16% in 2018 (Phát

Triển Công Nghiệp Chế Biến, Chế Tạo ở Việt Nam: Nhận Thức và Định Hướng Chính Sách (Phần 1) - Cổng Thông Tin Điện Tử Bộ Công Thương, n.d.) In 2020, amid of the

crisis due to the pandemic, manufacturing in Vietnam is still able to attract 13,6 billion

USD (Công Nghiệp Chế Biến Chế Tạo Thu Hút 13,6 Tỷ USD Vốn FDI Trong Năm 2020,

Phát Huy Vai Trò Động Lực Tăng Trưởng Kinh Tế – General Statistics Office of Vietnam, n.d.) Apart from the reasons of its importance and contribution to the national

economy, this sector is chosen as the case study for this dissertation because it uses the largest amount of skillful and disciplined labor, who require continuous and effective training for staff to minimize defective products and maximize productivity

1.2 Research purpose

The purpose of this study is to test the role of work motivation on the

performance (dependent variable), controlling for the educational degree, educational background, and the number of years working as middle managers, who used to work

or are currently working in the manufacturing industry in Vietnam The assumed roles

of work motivation would be mediating role and moderating role that would be tested respectively in two models

In the manufacturing industry, middle managers may possess various titles, e.g., department head, department manager, chief of production, line manager, project manager, etc., and other equivalent positions Their positions are located between the first-line management (or supervisor, team leader) and the top management level in the organizational hierarchy Below them, there may be two subordinate levels in minimum (Rezvani, 2017; Staehle & Schirmer, 1992)

Managerial skills training is approached via two facets as formative indicators The first one discusses the way they perceive their training opportunities: whether the provided training is sufficient and relevant, as well as makes them feel important or see the opportunity to develop themselves The second facet, namely “perceived training effectiveness”, inclines more toward the judgment on the effectiveness and efficiency

of training sessions provided by their organizations This approach contains factors affecting job performance, at the same time motivational factors, thus being appropriate with the research objectives (Shahzadi et al., 2014)

Work motivation is formed by intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation, which are tested on both moderating effects and mediating effects on the relationship between managerial training skills and middle managers’ job performance in the two models

The dependent variable is defined by three formative dimensions: job dedication, interpersonal facilitation, and overall work performance Job dedication can

be recognized via the attitude of willingly doing whatever it takes to get tasks done and confronting challenges, also via the amount of effort and commitment on the job (Conway, 1999) Meanwhile, interpersonal facilitation is symbolized by interpersonal relations, also by the ability to build relationships, reconciling disputation, as well as the spirit of cooperation and comforting people This ability also comprises interpersonal acts and behaviors that can build up the collective environment necessary for sustaining the organization’s performance (Borman & Brush, 1993; Conway, 1999; van Scotter &

Motowidlo, 1996) Then, the overall performance is considered as a synthesized dimension of mostly job dedication and interpersonal facilitation, together with other facets consisting of job performance (Conway, 1999)

1.3 Research questions

The utmost and final research question of this dissertation is:

What are the roles of middle managers’ motivation in the reflection of managerial skills training provided by their employers, and their job performance?

To answer the above biggest question, adapting techniques from the book

“Research Design” by (Creswell, 2014), the thesis tries to resolve step by step a set of smaller questions:

To test the mediating effect of work motivation:

1 How does managerial skills training affect middle managers’ job performance, controlling for the effects of their years of experience in middle-level management, educational background and degree?

2 How does managerial skills training affect middle managers’ work performance, controlling for the effects of their years of experience in middle-level management, educational background and degree?

3 How do managerial skills training, middle managers’ work motivation simultaneously influence their job performance, controlling for the effects

of their years of experience in middle-level management, educational background and degree?

To test the moderating effect of work motivation:

1 How do middle managers’ years of experience in middle-level management, educational background and degree affect their job performance?

2 How do managerial skills training, middle managers’ work motivation simultaneously influence their job performance, controlling for the effects

of their years of experience in middle-level management, educational background and degree?

3 How does the managerial skills training, work motivation, and their interaction term influence middle managers’ job performance, controlling for the effects of their years of experience in middle-level management, educational background and degree?

1.4 Scope of research

The study is conducted in the manufacturing industry across Viet Nam However, since the student lives in Ha Noi, most of the delivered questionnaires and so received answers come from Northern provinces All respondents are middle managers

as described in the title of the thesis

This chapter presents in a timeline the results of previous researches that are closely related to the thesis’ study It also discusses the relevance between studies for each construct separately, then discovers the gaps for this thesis to fill in and extend later Then, it advances the proposed theoretical model to describe the importance of the

study, together with the appropriate measurements All hypotheses to be tested are presented, too

Chapter 3: Research methodology

This chapter thoroughly describes the process of researching this dissertation The detailed steps are explained carefully in sequence: questionnaire design, survey delivery’s plan, identifying the population and sample, choosing instrumentation, methods of data analysis, and interpretation

Chapter 4: Results analysis and discussion

The chapter meticulously describes all collected data then presents results run

by SPSS 26 software while testing the variables and proposed model It elaborates the comparisons of tested data with hypotheses as to the thesis' findings

Chapter 5: Conclusions and implications

This last section of the main contents provides the answers to all research questions as the thesis’ conclusions Then, it suggests some implications for practitioners, as well as draws some limitations of this study for further research

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

Generally, the dissertation revolves around three main pillars: (managerial) skills training, work motivation, job performance, which are among the most frequently discussed topics at the workplace, in the field of human resource management (HRM) Within the framework of this Master’s thesis, it would be more practical and useful to narrow down these topics by centrally studying the effects of work motivation on the relationship between skills training and job performance, targeting middle managers who are working or used to work in the manufacturing industry According to this orientation, the literature background will be reviewed as the following structure:

(i) The scholarly literature about managerial skills training as the

independent variable

(ii) The scholarly literature about middle managers’ job performance as the

dependent variable

(iii) The scholarly literature about work motivation and its assumed roles in

the reflection of managerial skills training on job performance of middle

managers

(iv) Summarize and highlight all mentioned literature to advance the

research gap

(v) Propose the research model and hypotheses

2.1 Managerial skills training

In the field of human resource management (HRM), the term “training” simply means equipping employees with the necessary skills that they need to perform their jobs (Dessler, 2013) More comprehensively, (Wilson, 2005) in his book “Human Resource Development: Learning & Training for Individuals & Organizations” adapted the following definition from Manpower Service Commission: “(training as) a planned process to modify attitude, knowledge or skill behavior through learning experience to achieve effective performance in an activity or range of activities Its purpose, in the work situation, is to develop the abilities of the individual and to satisfy the current and future needs of the organization” Training helps to align the company’s strategic goals with employees’ required competencies and behaviors to achieve those goals At the

individual level, without training, even employees with high abilities may not ensure their success within the organization that they belong to

As introduced in previous sections, managerial skills training for middle managers is chosen to be discussed in detail Nowadays, in the manufacturing industry especially, there has been a rat-race, also an obsession, to achieve simultaneously quality improvement, cost reduction, and continuous innovation Those ambitious, sometimes contradictory goals cannot be materialized without enriching knowledge and sharpening skills for the management team, who is considered the driving power leading the firm

to the targeted direction This complexity of requirements was mentioned by (Mintzberg, 1973b) in “The Nature of Managerial Work”, as well as by (Sandwith, 1993) while proposing the Competency Domain Model They all emphasized, either directly or indirectly, the need of giving training opportunities to managers at all levels, at the same time ensuring the effectiveness by designing tailored programs for each incumbent’s characteristics

Due to the inherent importance and broad application of managerial skills training, for decades, there have been many scholars exploring this topic by focusing on

a specific skill or set of skills to analyze For instance, (Mintzberg, 1973b) introduced

to trainers and managers a taxonomy for a set of eight basic skills that should be trained and developed Inheriting Mintzberg’s legacy, (Waters, 1980) developed a framework

to classify managerial skills then proposed a phase-by-phase approach implementing the training (Cameron & Whetten, 1983) even cared about how to early train management skills in a business school On the other hand, (Yau & Sculli, 1990) tried to specifically suggest a set of traits and skills dedicated to Asian managers of all levels Or (Hunt & Baruch, 2003) chose to study in-depth and separately the impact of interpersonal skills training These examples represent the tendency of the majority of researchers in this field while concentrating on the format and contents of the training, which mostly derived from the employer’s perspective, for the employer’s interest, under Western working culture and historical setting

Concerning Vietnam’s context of an immature manufacturing industry (comparing to the long-standing and modern industry in developed countries), the approach for managerial skills training should be tailored in a way that can best take advantage of the achievements from the predecessors (more developed countries)

Observing the proliferation of Vietnam’s manufacturing sector during recent decades, together with persistent shortcomings in vocational training, it would be reasonable to accept the argument that many middle managers in this sector may have been facing difficulties in terms of skills training On one hand, they need to be trained massively as the workforce size in this sector has quickly been increased On the other hand, since the training budget and working time frame are always limited in any firm, the training must be given to the right people, at the right moment, at a reasonable frequency Therefore, perceived training effectiveness and perceived training opportunity should

be considered among the most important characters or components while designing and organizing activities for these incumbents

Following a study of (Chiaburu & Tekleab, 2005), the concept “perceived training effectiveness” of a trainee consists of four dimensions: (1) post-training knowledge refers to the proficiency of training contents, proven by test scores (Gagne, 1984); (2) training transfer represents the ability of effectively applying acquired training contents to a real job (Baldwin & Ford, 1988); (3) training generalization refers

to the transformation of gained knowledge to a more complicated task than trained and (4) training maintenance is the replication of trained skills in a new context (Ford et al., 1998) Meanwhile, the concept “perceived training opportunities”, which was explained

by the trainee’s satisfaction toward the given session or course, could be defined by the sufficiency of training contents in comparison with those invested by other firms or by previous employers (Dysvik & Kuvaas, 2008)

2.2 Job performance

Within the scope of this thesis, the concept “job performance” is understood as middle managers’ job performance, or middle-level managerial performance, not a collective performance of any group of people However, let’s take an overview of individual job performance with its determinants, generally The classic book “Work and Motivation” of (Vroom, 1964) defined job performance through the following formula:

Job performance = f(Ability x Motivation)

Nearly two decades later, inspired by the above theory or Victor Vroom, in an attempt to provide a more consistent and stronger clarification, research of (Blumberg

& Pringle, 1982) introduced new formula by adding up the dimension “Opportunity”:

Job performance = f(Capacity x Willingness x Opportunity) The following table shows in detail possible variables matching with each dimension:

Table 2.1: Dimensions of job performance and its variables Dimensions Possible variables

With time, there have been more researches on the definition and determinants

of job performance Because of its huge pervasiveness in the field of organizational behavior and HRM, this concept should be observed from an integrative point of view

of multiple involved theories (Blumberg & Pringle, 1982; Waldman & Spangler, 1989) However, no matter from which standpoint of study, as shown in Table 2.1, it seems that a direct relationship between skills training and job performance can exist quite obviously To examine this argument, a hypothesis is proposed:

“There is a significant relationship between managerial skills training for middle-level managers and their job performance”

Evolving from antecedent works, (Borman & Brush, 1993) proposed a taxonomy of managerial performance components Firstly, industrial/organizational psychologists collected twenty-six dimensions sets from published and unpublished studies of manager performance Then those dimensions are categorized based on similarity in content, pooled in the correlation matrix, factor analyzed to sort out eighteen factors, called eighteen mega-dimensions Finally, they are grouped into four components, namely: interpersonal dealings and communication; leadership and

supervision; technical activities and the mechanics of management; useful personal behavior and skills

In line with the persistent works of many scholars in refining and deepening the connotation of job performance, the studies of (Conway, 1999; Motowidlo et al., 1997; Motowidlo & van Scotter, 1994; van Scotter & Motowidlo, 1996) suggest that the dichotomy between task performance and contextual performance is logical, unavoidable because this proposal is supported by both theoretical and empirical evidence Also following this research, although task performance once attracted more academic attention than the other as it shows job-specific tasks, it inevitably bypasses the important elements that commonly exist in both types For instance, working alone and working in a team may share the same job-specific tasks, but the final or overall performance may differ between both contexts, as the latter obviously adds in the hierarchy, communication, coordination, motivational elements affecting performance That being said, contextual performance seems to be able to, due to its broader coverage, reflect better the nature of job performance Moreover, to overcome the drawback of that noticeable breadth,(van Scotter & Motowidlo, 1996) decided to separate contextual performance into two facets: interpersonal facilitation and job dedication While the first mainly facilitates the organizational achievement as oriented, the latter depicts one’s discipline, effort, and behavior to get the tasks done The academic foundation and result

of this separation are strengthened by (Viswesvaran & Ones, 2000) when they support interpersonal facilitation as an applicable dimension across occupations to measure managerial job performance

2.3 Work motivation

2.3.1 Definitions

Following the work of (Vroom, 1964), “why” has been among the most frequently asked questions in terms of human behavior, just because everybody is curious about the cause of that behavior Among those, the question “Why people work?”, which belongs to the field of motivation, has been cared for by various psychologists, giving diverse types of answers Because it relates to human needs, especially to the adults, such as earning money, social interaction, social status, or social contribution (Maslow, 1943) Psychoanalytic scholars, cognitive psychologists,

humanists, behaviorists have all tried to base on some assumptions to conceptualize this term Therefore, this thesis would not only depend on any sole theory but would like to introduce a summarized definition that can cover quite comprehensively several major antecedent works, as well as the term’s connotation It can be explained as a concept relating to the conditions of individual attitudes and behaviors at the workplace, originates from one’s inherent demands then motivates that one’s actions to materialize and satisfy those demands Work motivation comprises of the incumbent’s energy, goal, effort, choice, persistence, as well as other necessary strength in the processes of making choices & changes, directing, self-expressing, resisting and maintaining behaviors On the other hand, work motivation can also change as it depends not only on characteristics, knowledge, skills and ability of oneself but also on external factors, such as job specifics, social relationship, socio-economic conditions, as well as that one’s working environment The above explanation is consistent with the common ideas of “work motivation” that have been picked as main references, e.g., the works of (Furukawa, 1982), (Katzell & Thompson, 1990), (Kanfer, 1992), (Steers et al., 2004), (Gagné & Deci, 2005), (Latham & Pinder, 2005), (Latham, 2007)

Most of the fundamental theories of work motivation had been developed and proposed before the years of 90s To categorize them, there have been several ways among which the classification into exogenous theories (dealing with exogenous causes) and endogenous theories (dealing with endogenous processes) has been widely used, as

it can highlight the conditions and practices affecting work motivation While the former can identify the leverages for improving work motivation and job performance, the latter can explain the mechanism of motivation (Katzell & Thompson, 1990)

As an important result of those theories' development, work motivation has been divided into two types accepted by both researchers and practitioners, namely intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation (Deci & Ryan, 1985) The thesis would like to introduce the definitions proposed by (Amabile, 1993) of these two types as

quoted below, due to the comprehensiveness and inclusion of most of the concepts proposed previously:

“Individual are intrinsically motivated when they seek enjoyment, interest, satisfaction

of curiosity, self-expression, or personal challenge in the work”

“Individual are extrinsically motivated when they engage in the work in order to obtain some goal that is apart from the work itself”

These definitions themselves revealed an opposite mechanism that is called dichotomy Following (Furukawa, 1982), this dichotomization was made for a given activity based

on three criteria: the inherency of rewards, the needs’ satisfaction of rewards, the social mediation of rewards Meanwhile, (Ryan & Deci, 2000) suggested that intrinsic motivation only moves one doing something just because of its inherent satisfaction or joy On the contrary, extrinsic motivation moves one to do something because of external, separate consequences or outcomes Because of that remarkably different in motivating mechanism, (Herzberg et al., 2011) argued that it may be harder to have a significant correlation between this intrinsic - extrinsic dichotomy Before time, the study of (Deci, 1971) even proposed that stronger extrinsic motivation might lead to weaker intrinsic motivation

However, it is crucial to affirm that intrinsic and extrinsic motivations are not completely separated By contrast, as discovered in the work of (Amabile, 1993), they could work in the synergy of a motivational system via two proposed mechanisms, called “extrinsics in service of intrinsics” and “motivation-work cycle match” In some cases, extrinsic motivation can still complement intrinsic motivation

2.3.2 Work motivation and job performance

While discussing the role of motivation in work performance, it is quite frequently that scholars’ first thought comes to the classic book “Work and Motivation”

of (Vroom, 1964), where the conditions that make employees effective at works are discussed, also the differences in individual performance between employees are explained The most interesting finding proposed is that job performance depends on both motivation and ability of employees, not in an additive relationship but a multiplicative one The interaction between these two independent variables suggests that good work motivation may positively affect job performance, given that the ability

in exchange So, there is a reasonable question coming up with a suggestion: what are

the possible motivational determinants of job performance? Recently there was a study

by (Kuvaas et al., 2017) suggesting that both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation may

relate to job performance, but perhaps in different ways Combining with Amabile’s

idea of synergetic work motivation, the thesis would like to answer the question by

examining the following hypothesis:

“There is a significant relationship between middle-level mangers’ work motivation and

their job performance”

2.3.3 Work motivation and (managerial) skills training

Following the above-mentioned theories classification of (Katzell & Thompson,

1990), the exogenous causes can improve the work motivation and performance of

employees, hence it can impact similarly to middle-level managers’ motivation and job

performance In this category, the two sub-group of “motive/need theory” and

“sociotechnical system theory” have both implied that the training of skills may

motivate employees, in its general meaning, to perform well (together with autonomy,

available resources and harmonized work design) This situation could work as a lever

to enhance the value of staff, as well as facilitate the selection of suitable candidates

From this perspective, the dissertation can propose the following hypothesis:

“There is a significant relationship between middle-level mangers’ managerial skills

training and their work motivation”

So far, after reviewing several related pieces of literature on managerial skills

training, work motivation and job performance, the thesis has found reliable theoretical

fundamentals to assume the significant relationship between three pairs of concepts:

(managerial skills training and work motivation); (work motivation and job

performance); (managerial skills training and job performance) Since the goal of this

dissertation is to test the role of work motivation on the relationship between managerial

skills training and job performance, here comes the key hypothesis:

“Middle-level managers’ work motivation significantly affects (in mediating or

moderating way) the reflection of managerial skills training on their job performance”

2.4 Research gap

There are many reviewed research papers discussing respectively the effects of

managerial training skills and work motivation as independent variables on job

performance However, there is rare research that put together managerial skills training

and work motivation (including both intrinsic and extrinsic types) to predict job

performance, attached to Vietnam’s context This triangle of relationship is very

meaningful for a developing country like Vietnam, where the manufacturing industry

has been boosting up faster than the speed of training skillful manpower How the

effectiveness and opportunities of training may affect work motivation? What could be

the contribution of work motivation to the targeted relationship? The interactive

mechanism of these three variables should be carefully examined to provide practical

implications to the practitioners in Vietnam

2.5 Propose the research model & Hypotheses

Following the most recent study of (Karazsia & Berlin, 2018), the mediator and

moderator cannot take effect simultaneously, according to the MacArthur approach

Therefore, the thesis would like to examine all hypotheses in two models The first one

(mediation model) examines the mediating role, while the second one (moderation

model) examines the moderating role of work motivation

The control variables are also used Those are:

- Educational degree: the highest academic degree that middle-manager

currently has, including bachelor/engineer, Master’s, Ph.D., others

- Educational background: the academic major that middle-manager

graduated, including economics – finance – management – social science;

technics; others

- Number of years of experience in middle-level management (briefly called

from now on as managerial experience), including under 3 years, from 3

years to 5 years, from 5 years to 9 years, above 9 years

Mediation model:

Moderation model:

Work Motivation

Managerial

skills training

Job performance

Control variables

Figure 2.1: Research model A - Mediating effect

Work Motivation

Managerial

skills training

Job performance

H3

H4

Control variables

Figure 2.2: Research model B - Moderating effect

H3

Proposed hypotheses: as being argued, developed, and clearly stated in the literature review, the dissertation would like to test the four hypotheses as below:

H1: There is a significant relationship between middle-level managers’ managerial skills training and their work motivation

H2: There is a significant relationship between middle-level managers’ work motivation and their job performance

H3: There is a significant relationship between managerial skills training for level managers and their job performance

middle-H4: Middle-level managers’ work motivation moderates the reflection of managerial skills training on their job performance

H5: Middle-level managers’ work motivation mediates the reflection of managerial skills training on their job performance

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1 Research design

This dissertation aims at testing the role of middle managers’ work motivation

on the relationship between managerial skills training and job performance, within the context of the manufacturing industry in Vietnam To achieve this goal, the quantitative method is chosen to select variables, design a survey and analyze data Following (Creswell, 2014), this is the appropriate approach to examine the relationship between variables (here are the moderating and mediating effects of work motivation), though there is not any specific motivation theory or job performance theory that is tested

All these variables will be measured then analyzed with the support of statistical software (SPSS 26) Before this stage, related literature is carefully reviewed

to deductively propose suitable research models and hypotheses After completing the data analysis, the results are presented to clarify the status of hypotheses (support or reject) with a detailed structural model showing regression coefficients between variables Findings, conclusions and implications for both scholars and practitioners will

be drawn as the last steps of the research process

3.2 Survey plan

3.3.1 Variables

Drawing from arguments in the literature review section, the following constructs have been selected out as indicators to build a formative measurement model for managerial skills training, work motivation and job performance:

Table 3.1: Indicators of main variables Variables Indicators Labels Reference sources

Managerial

training

skills (MST)

Perceived training effectiveness PTE (Dysvik & Kuvaas, 2008) Perceived training

Intrinsic motivation IM (Kuvaas, 2006; Kuvaas & Dysvik,

2009; Ryan & Deci, 2000)

Extrinsic motivation EM (Kuvaas et al., 2017; Ryan & Deci,

facilitation IP

(Borman & Brush, 1993; Conway, 1999; van Scotter & Motowidlo, 1996; Viswesvaran & Ones, 2000) Overall performance OP (Kuvaas, 2006)

Disagree Not sure /

Neutral Agree Strongly agree

There are a total of forty-three (43) question items for main variables and seven (7) question items for general information and control variables Firstly, these question items are adapted from original papers then paraphrased in English Then they are

translated into Vietnamese and input to Google Forms Before being delivered to respondents, they were mixed randomly to avoid biased responses

Table 3.3: The question items for Motivation

Indicators Question items Encodes

Adapted from

I must have an external benefit to try hard to

do a great job EM2

An external benefit such as rewards and provisions is important for how well I do my job

My tasks at the workplace are enjoyable IM2

My work is meaningful IM3

My work is extremely exciting IM4

My work is so interesting that it is a motivation in itself IM5 Sometimes my work is so inspirational that I

almost forget everything else surrounding me IM6

Table 3.4: The question items for Managerial skills training

Indicators Question items Encodes

Adapted from

I’ve got many chances to learn new things while working for my current employer PTE2 Training courses are frequently organized in

the current employer PTE3

I feel beneficial while working here PTE4

PTO1

(Dysvik

&

Kuvaas, 2008)

It is my impression that my employer is way better than its competitors to supply training and development

PTO4

The training and development I have gotten are not sufficient to solve in-charge tasks PTO5 The training and development I have gotten

are not exclusively tailored to my own needs PTO6

I have gotten better training and development opportunities in my past jobs PTO7

I am fulfilled with the training and development I have gotten PTO8