Conscientiousness, employee engagement, and job performance among employees in the Ministry of Public Service, Uganda

Abstract

Attaining a competitive advantage in today’s work environment can be a challenging task to many organisations. This results from low employee engagement and personality traits that do not align with the work demands and environment hence low job performance. Therefore, the study was set out to examine the relationship between conscientiousness, employee engagement, and job performance among employees in the Ministry of Public Service, Uganda. The study used a cross-sectional research design, and 92 participants were sampled from the Ministry of Public Service using stratified random sampling. Standardized tools were used in measuring the key study variables. Analysis of study hypotheses was done using Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient and process macro mediation regression in SPSS v27. Findings indicated that conscientiousness is significantly associated with employee engagement and job performance while employee engagement is significantly related to job performance. The indirect effects of conscientiousness on job performance through engagement were significant. Therefore, Uganda Public service and other recruitment agencies and employers should focus on recruiting employees who are high on the conscientious personality trait alongside creating environments that enhance engagement among their employees.