UNIVERSITY OF LIBERIA

IBB Graduate School of international Studies

Capitol Hill, Monrovia, Liberia

CHAPTER ONE

An Assessment of the Impacts of Low Salaries on Employees Demotivation in Liberia; A Case

Study of the Civil Service Agency (CSA). 2019 – 2022

In Partial Fulfilment of the Requirement of POSC 509

By

Samuel Doe

99454

Submitted To: Dr. Paul Collins, PhD

Lecturer

March, 2023
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER ONE..........................................................................................................................1

INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................................................1

Introduction..................................................................................................................................1

1.1 Background of the Study........................................................................................................2

1.2 Statement of the Problem.......................................................................................................3

1.3 Significance of the Study.......................................................................................................4

1.4 Purpose and Objectives..........................................................................................................4

1.5 Research Questions................................................................................................................5

1.6 Scope/Delimitation.................................................................................................................5

1.7 Limitation of the Study..........................................................................................................5

1.8 Definition of Key Terms........................................................................................................6

1.9 Organization of the Study......................................................................................................6

References....................................................................................................................................7
 CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Introduction

In this research, the term low salary is define as any wage that is less than two-thirds of the

national median or the national mean of gross hourly wages; or any salary below the provision of

the decent work act of Liberia. The research is quantitative in nature; the research contain an

independent variable and dependent variable; the independent variable of this research is “the

impact of Low Salaries” while the dependent variable is “Employees’ Demotivation. It is

assumed that low salaries always demotivate employees at job and that it leads to poor

performance and ineffectiveness by employees on the job with employees at the Civil Service

Agency is no excuse.

This research is based on a hypothesis and a non-hypothesis; the hypothesis for this research

is that low salaries have significant impact on employees demotivation; and that there exist a

strongly relationship between low salaries and employees’ demotivation. While the non-

hypothesis for this study is that low salaries doesn’t necessary have any impact of employees

demotivation; and that there doesn’t exist and relationship between low salaries and employees’

demotivation. In order for the research to get the proper data needed for the study; the stated

research question was asked; what are the impacts of low salaries on employees’ demotivation at

the Civil Service Agency? Finally, the topic for this quantitative research is An Assessment of

the impacts of Low Salaries on Employees’ Demotivation at the Civil Service Agency. This

research is structure into five sections which includes an introduction that contains independent

variable and dependent variable, hypothesis, assumption and research question.

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1.1 Background of the Study

The relationship between proper salaries of workers and their efficiency is not farfetched

so also are effective leadership and productivity. In many occasions that workers representatives

and the government have had tom negotiate wages and salary, in most cases, the executive arm

of government both at the state and federal levels have always been represented by certain

persons with the understanding that any decision reached in such engagements would be binding

on all parties (Adeboy, 2004). This brings the issue of leadership into focus. Leadership

essentially determines whether agreements would be implemented and sustained or not. As

Tannebaun and Warren (1983) had noted, a leader is always in-charge of the affairs of his

subjects. He does not only influence their behaviour but also ensures that the environment is

conducive for the achievement of common goal.

There appears to be plentiful evidence in the research literature that poor pay has a

negative effect on the performance of public servants (Dieleman et al, 2003 and 2006; Kingma,

2001 & 2007), and is a core factor in worker de-motivation (WillisShattuck et al., 2008). This is

especially the case when salaries are not adequate for obtaining the basic necessities of daily

(Ambrose, M. L., & Kulik, C. T. 1999). The opportunity to earn higher salaries is one of several

major push factors for the migration of health care workers (Vujicic et al, 2004). Therefore, civil

servants need to be adequately compensated for their work, but increased financial rewards can

lead them to start viewing these as more important, creating a conflict between their values and

the messages they receive about working for financial gain (Crewson, 1997; Franco et al., 2002).

The implication of this is that the organization’s overall performance depends to a large

degree on the productivity of individuals and groups within the organization. In the opinion of

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Martocchio (2006), to attract, retain and motivate highly productive workers and to be fair to all

employees, an organization needs to reward employees on the basis of their relative productivity.

Therefore the link between employee’s performance and good pay has been underscored

by the above opinion. Reilly (2003) also lent substantial support to the above opinion when he

noted that when workers are paid commensurable to their outputs, it does not only encourage

them to do more but serves also as a stabilizing force within work environment thereby

providing conducive atmosphere for higher productivity. In a related development, Lawal and

Oluwatoyin (2011) observes that isolating a worker for reward in civil service may not be as easy

as it could be in the private sector, but workers can be effectively motivated, collectively,

through prompt implementation of general increase in wages and salaries such as minimum wage

issue.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

There have been serious debates on the salary demotivating employees and how they

respond to their respective jobs. The amount of salary pay to civil servants is the problem that

keeps emerging within the every government. Due to insufficient salary paid to civil servants

lead to them having side job outside their main job in order to need the needs of their families

which results in the ineffectiveness on the job and poor productivity in the public sector. This

situation highly affects the low class civil servants which they generally have to do a side job.

The low income of civil servants every month gives an overview of the low satisfaction of civil

servants.

There appears to be plentiful evidence in the research literature that poor pay has a

negative effect on the performance of public servants (Dieleman et al, 2003 and 2006; Kingma,

2001 & 2007), and is a core factor in worker de-motivation. This is especially the case when

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salaries are not adequate for obtaining the basic necessities of daily. The opportunity to earn

higher salaries is one of several major push factors for the government workers abandoning

work. Therefore, civil servants need to be adequately compensated for their work they that

commensurate with their family expanse.

1.3 Significance of the Study

The aim of this research is to assess the impacts of Low Salaries on Employees

Demotivation in Liberia; A Case Study of the Civil Service Agency (CSA). 2019 – 2022. The

study will benefit all stakeholders, research experts, and administration of governmental and

non-governmental organizations in the establishment of sound merit based pay system to meet

the complex challenges in the Civil Service reform of Liberia. It will also provide insight into

whether or not the reform policy of Civil Service Agency is being fully implemented. Light will

also be thrown on constraints encountered in its implementation of the decent work act.

1.4 Purpose and Objectives

The general objective of the study is to identify the impacts of Low Salaries on

Employees Demotivation in Liberia; A Case Study of the Civil Service Agency (CSA).

The research specific objectives are as follow:

1. To assess the impacts of low salaries on employees demotivation at Civil Service Agency

(CSA) in Liberia.

2. To identify constraints or challenges related to improving pay grade system of the Civil

Service Agency.

3. To assess the important of increasing civil servants salaries as it relate to efficiency and

effectiveness and productivity at the workplace.

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1.5 Research Questions

For the purpose of this study, the major research questions to be answered are:

1. What are the impacts of low salaries on employees demotivation at the Civil Service

Agency?

2. What are the constraints or challenges as it related to improving pay grade system of the

Civil Service Agency?

3. What are the importance of increasing civil servants salaries as it relate to efficiency and

effectiveness and productivity at the workplace?

1.6 Scope/Delimitation

This research is center around the Impacts of Low Salaries on Employees Demotivation

in Liberia; A Case Study of the Civil Service Agency (CSA). 2019 – 2022. Since Civil Service

Agency is main employers of government workers, it will be the main focus of the study.

1.7 Limitation of the Study

The researcher in considering time limitations, financial constraints and the human

impossibilities will concentrated this research on the sample size of 20 participants from the total

population. In addition, the research will be conducted from 2019-2022 instead of covering a

longer period since there were inadequate financial resources. As a result of time limitation, the

research will only be conducted at the Civil Service Agency Head Office. The sample size will

be randomly selected from twenty employees at the agencies. Hence, this may not be equally

equated to the all aspect of the taxpayers’ compliance in Liberia; therefore further research need

to be conducted.

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1.8 Definition of Key Terms

Civil servant - is a person appointed by the Government to perform its executive and

administrative duties based on the provisions in law.

Minimum wages – is the minimum amount of remuneration that an employer is required

to pay wage earners for the work performed during a given period, which cannot be reduced by

collective agreement or an individual contract.

Employee motivation - is the level of commitment, energy and innovation that a

company's staff hold during the working day. 

A salary - is a fixed amount that is paid to an employee at regular intervals, irrespective

of the hours or amount of work performed. 

1.9 Organization of the Study

This thesis proposal will comprise five chapters. Chapter one is an introductory chapter

which begins with the background of the study, Following the background is the problem

statement, which presents the research gaps. This chapter also four includes research questions,

significance of the study, and scope of the study as well as assumptions of the study. The second

chapter reviews the literature on the impacts of salary demotivation on employee’s behavior.

while Chapter three is the methodology outlining the research methods, research design, target

population and the sample size and sampling technique, the instrument, and data collection

procedure as well as data analysis procedure. Chapter four will comprise of the data presentation,

interpretation and analysis. And finally chapter five will contain the summary, conclusion and

recommendations.

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 References

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Cambridge University Press.

Ambrose, M. L., & Kulik, C. T. 1999). Old friends, new faces: Motivation research in the 1990s.

Journal of Management, 25, 231-92.

Creswell, J. W. (2007). Qualitative inquiry & research designed: Choosing among five

approaches. Thousand Oaks CA: Sage.

Crewson, P. (1997) Public-service motivation: Building empirical evidence of incidence and

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Dieleman, M., Viet Cuong P., Vu, Anh, L, & Martineau T. (2003). Identifying factors for job

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Publications Africa. Nairobi.

Vujicic, M., Zurn, P., Diallo, K., Adams, O, & Dal-Poz, M.R. (2004). The role of wages in the

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 migration of health care professionals from developing countries. Human Resources for

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Willis-Shattrick, M., Bidwell, P., Thomas, S., Wyness, L., Blaauw, D., & Ditlopo, P. (2008).

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