The Effect Of Work Ethics On Employees' Performance: A Case Of Ethio-Telecom, Central West Region

Abstract

Work ethics refers to the norms, guidelines, moral principles, standards, or set of values that control people's behavior at work and promote hard work and diligence. The purpose of this research was to examine the effect of work ethics on employees' performance in the case of Ethio Telecom's Central West Region (CWR). The researcher used descriptive and explanatory research designs. Both qualitative and quantitative data were gathered from both primary and secondary sources on work ethics and employees' performance, respectively. The researcher used simple random sampling as an appropriate method to select a sample of 192 from the 371 total targeted populations. Data were analyzed using inferential statistics such as correlation and regression with the aid of IBM SPSS version 24. The means, frequencies, and percentiles of the dependent and independent variables were computed and interpreted. Pearson correlation, the coefficient (r), was used to determine the relationship between each independent variable and the dependent variable. The correlation result indicated that there was a positive relationship between all of the independent variables and the dependent variable. This implies that any increase or decrease on the independent variable will bring corresponding changes to employees‟ performance. The researcher also examined the effect of work ethics on employee performance using regression analysis. The results showed that the five-predictor factors accounted for a 73.2% increase in the change criterion (employees' performance). The study also found that work ethics affect employees' performance significantly. The regression analysis also shows three variables namely, Employee commitment, ethical behavior and integrity has insignificant relationship with employee performance. Findings revealed that work ethics have an effect on employees' performance. The study recommended that the telecommunication industry have to give more emphasis to maximizing and institutionalizing work ethics as underlying factors of employees' performance, incorporate elements of work ethics in the form of guidelines, and have them instilled and ingrained in the minds of employees.