Autonomous work motivation and job performance in an infrastructure megaproject: Does internal social responsibility matter?

Individual job performance is an under-explored issue in the project management literature. This study examines the relationship between work motivation and job performance in a mega hydropower project context. Drawing on self-determination theory, we theorize that work motivation positively affects job performance, and that this relationship is positively moderated by megaproject internal social responsibility (ISR). ISR refers to voluntary actions of a megaproject organization that target improving the physical and psychological working environment, which in turn aims at enhancing the wellbeing of employees. Following an explanatory and quantitative research design, a questionnaire survey was administered to project employees who worked on a mega hydropower project in Ethiopia. Using a field survey with valid responses from 200 project employees selected on the basis of a simple random sampling technique, the findings of our study, based on Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) using SmartPLS 4 software, reveal that ISR as perceived by project employees enhances the positive association between motivation and job performance. The study, however, did not find a direct relationship between the perceptions of ISR and job performance. The results of the present study are vital for understanding the nuanced boundary conditions under which employee motivation is more associated with job performance in a megaproject context, a topic which is not well addressed empirically in the project management literature. The paper discusses the theoretical and practical implications of these findings.