Motivation has been empirically confirmed to be a major driver of employee performance. This paper assesses the effect of motivation on the performance of teaching staff of Ghanaian polytechnics, with the moderating role of research experience and highest education attained captured. A quantitative research technique is employed in this study. The target population of the study was teaching staff who had taught in Ghanaian polytechnics for at least 2 years, had a minimum of a second degree, and had some level of research experience. Simple and stratified sampling procedures were used to select 465 respondents. The study confirms a significant positive correlation between motivation and performance among teaching staff of Ghanaian polytechnics, r (408) = .892, p < .05. In this respect, motivation accounts for 79.5% of the variation in performance. Moreover, highest education attained and the research experience of teaching staff influence both motivation and performance. This means that teaching staff of polytechnics in Ghana can maximise their motivation and performance by improving their education and research experience.
Keywords: Education, Motivation, Performance, Polytechnics, higher educational institutions, research experience, teaching staff
