Coaching and Employee Performance: The Mediating Effect of Rewards & Recognition in Malaysian Corporate Context

The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of workplace coaching on employees’ performance in Malaysia mediated by rewards and recognition. Many studies in the past examined the influence of coaching on employee performance, the relationship between coaching and rewards and recognition, as well as the impact of rewards and recognition on employee performance. However, there is limited research on the influence of coaching and employee performance mediated by rewards and recognition appears to have been conducted or examined. There is also inadequate literature on the impact of rewards and recognition on coaching. Based on the critical review of research literature, the questionnaire for this research was developed and divided into three sections based on dependent, independent and mediating variables. In this research, the dependent variable is employee performance, independent variable is coaching, and the mediating variable is rewards and recognition. The conceptual framework is developed using the assumptions of Motivation Theories, Social Exchange Theory, Reinforcement Theory and Psychodynamic Theory. The research used survey approach with a Likert Scale-based survey questionnaire (with 1 to 5 scale – from strongly disagree to strongly agree). The sampling technique adopted for respondent’s selection is convenient sampling. Total of 200 questionnaires are distributed to employees in Malaysia who have had experience in being either a coach or a coachee at a workplace. SPSS Amos Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) and Regression Analysis are used to analyze the data collected. Based on the finding from this research it is found that coaching has a 31.8% positive impact on employee performance, 63.5% positive impact on Rewards, while rewards have a 39.2% impact on employee performance and impact of coaching on employee performance is mediated by rewards has an effect size of 24.9% . Future research should consider looking into other possible mediating factors; consider larger samples looking into different sectors and a different approach in the moderation effect such as demographic profiles of coaches and coachees. The foreseen limitation of this research is the sample size which may not represent the entire workforce population and work sectors in Malaysia. On the other hand, this research has only considered the mediating factors of rewards and recognition while there could be other mediating factors that could influence employee performance. There is also an opportunity in the future to examine different types of coaching and relationship between coach and coachee that may add value to the practical usefulness of the findings.