Antecedents of Employee Performance of Conventional Taxi Driver

in Medan

Anggia Sari Lubis and Sari Wulandari

Departement of Management, Faculty Economy, Universitas Muslim Nusantara Al-Washliyah, Medan, Indonesia

Keywords: Adversity Quotient, Work Stress, Employee Motivation, Job Performance, Taxi Company

Abstract: As an important source of human resource management, job performance is considered by most scholars

and practitioners a must for contemporary organisations and and become a topic that is often discussed. In

this vein, organisational members should and must provide the best quality of work for the organization to

achieve the goals of the organization Various scholars have emphasized the value of identifying and

understanding the factors contributing to job performance. The purpose of this research is therefore to

investigate the factors fostering job performance. We have developed a conceptual model and tested it with

an empirical study based on a sample of 253 participants from conventional taxi driver in Medan City. The

results reveal that adversity quotient and work stress have positive impacts on job performance.

Furthermore, employee motivation is an intervening variable from the effect between adversity quotient and

work stress to job performance. These findings offer a new framework for developing further studies on job

performance, as well as important practical implications for managers especially for conventional taxi

company .

1 INTRODUCTION

The presence of online taxi-based applications in

Medan City has resulted in the reduction of

conventional taxi passengers. This is because the

fare of online taxi-based applications is lower than

that of conventional taxi. In addition, passengers

using online applications are also provided with ease

in the process of booking a taxi as the passengers

can easily order a taxi by using the application on

the smartphone, and in just a few minutes waiting

time, the passengers have been picked up by taxi-

based online applications. The circumstances

described in the preceding paragraph lead to a

decrease in the performance of conventional taxi

drivers. Yet if the performance achieved by

conventional taxi driver is good, it will ultimately

contribute to the performance of the company.

Employees’ performance is influenced from internal

and external enviroment of people,such as locus of

control , tolerance for ambiguity, business strategy

and corporate culture, business environment and

changing in the economic conditions (Desmond,

2007).

Other research results show that employee

performance is also influenced by human resource

practice consisting of job security, organizational

support and physicological contract (Latorre, Guest,

Ramos, & Gracia, 2016). The Adversity Quotient

(AQ) means to measure people’s capacity to respond

to and surmount adversity (Stoltz, 1997). Workers

with a high Adversity Quotient will have lower job

stress. AQ concept can predict the power and

focused of a person and can be used to enhance the

effectiveness of teams, relationships, families,

communities, cultures, societies and organizations

(Phoolka & Kaur, 2012). Based on the problems

that occur in conventional taxi drivers in Medan

City, job stress is one of the factors causing the

reduction of employees’ performance. Based on the

results of research, one of the factors that cause

work stress is the extrinsic rewards satisfaction

(Elmadağ & Ellinger, 2017). Job stressors involving

a range of stakeholders, either internally (eg,

employees, suppliers, financial agencies) are directly

and indirectly related (through the feeling of

loneliness) to burnout (Fernet, Torrès, Austin, & St-

Pierre, 2016). Motivation of work has become a long

concept in determining high employee performance.

Employees' motivation representing a key factor that

determines their own objectives (Rusu & Avasilcai,

2014). The object of this research is the conventional

284

Lubis, A. and Wulandari, S.

Antecedents of Employee Performance of Conventional Taxi Driver in Medan.

DOI: 10.5220/0008884002840290

In Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Multidisciplinary Research (ICMR 2018) - , pages 284-290

ISBN: 978-989-758-437-4

taxi drivers in Medan City. No less than 824

conventional taxi drivers from conventional taxi

companies are still active in Medan City. Based on

the above background, this research is intended to

find out the Antecedents of Employee Performance

on conventional taxi drivers in Medan City.

2 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

AND HYPOTHESES

Job performance can be referred as the duties and

responsibilities that are performed as part of an

individual's job assignments (Vigoda, 2000). It

reflects organizational performance (Wall et al.,

2004 and Gomez-Mejia, Balkin, & Cardy, 2007).

Adversity quotient is a concept of intelligence raised

by Paul G. Stoltz to measure how a person's

responses to a problem or obstacle to be utilized as

an opportunity. Adversity quotient emphasizes the

element of adversity as a determinant of one's

success. Adversity quotient informs individuals

about their ability to deal with adversity and the

ability to overcome them, to forecast capable and

incapable individual to cope with adversity, to

predict those who will be able and who will fail to

achieve expectations of performance and potential ,

and predict individuals who will surrender and who

will survive in the face of adversity. Stoltz (2000) in

Phoolka (2012) states that a person who has the

ability to survive and continue to struggle with

perseverance, full of motivation, enthusiasm,

ambitious, keeping the spirit when faced with a

problematic life is seen as a figure that has a high

Adversity quotient, meanwhile a person who

surrenders easily, to fate, and becomespessimistic

and has a tendency to be negative when faced with a

difficulty is seen as individual who has low levels of

Adversity quotient. Stoltz (2000) in Shen (2014)

proposes several factors necessary to change the

failure into an opportunity: competitiveness,

productivity, creativity, motivation, risk,

perseverance, learning, embrace change, and

perseverance. Indicators of adversity quotient

variables include the ability to control difficulties

(control), the ability of individuals to identify the

emergence of difficulties (origin), the ability of

individuals to face difficulties and not to repeat

(reach) and to know the duration of facing adversity

(endurance) (CORE). According to Phoolka & Kaur

(2012) Adversity Quotient can be used to predict

employee performance, motivation, creativity, and

productivity of an employee within a company.

Baron and Greenberd in Mardiana (2002),

defines stress as emotional and psychological

reactions that occur in situations where individual

goals get blocked and cannot cope with them.

According to Ramzan (2013), work stress affects job

satisfaction of an employee that ultimately affects

the performance of employees as a whole. From the

description above it can be concluded that the

occurrence of work stress is due to an imbalance

poinst between employee personality characteristics

and characteristics of aspects of work and this can

occur in all conditions of work. Indicators of work

stress that can be used as a reference to know the

stress caused by work, include Roles in the

organization, Workload, career development,

Relations in Work, and Structure and Climate of

Organizations.

Munandar (Munandar, 2009) states that

motivation is a process which needs to encourage a

person to carry out a series of activities to achieve

his goals. While in a large dictionary of Indonesian

(KBBI) motivation is the impulse that arises in a

person consciously or unconsciously to perform an

action with a specific purpose. Motivation of work is

the incentive and desire that is in man to carry out

his job duties well (Umar, 2013). Motivation of

work is an impulse that exists within a person to

carry out his duties well so that his goals are

achieved. Indicators of work motivation in this study

uses the theory of Herzberg in Slamet (2007):

Relationship with colleagues and superiors, Work

environment, Opportunity to increase knowledge

and skills and Provision of benefits.

Figure 1: Conceptual model and hypotheses.

2.1 Effect of Adversity Quotient on

Employee Performance

AQ is something in addition of IQ and EQ that

shares some commonalities with hardiness and

resilience. Adversity Quotient is a form of

intelligence that backs the success of someone who

in this case is a conventional taxi driver in the face

of challenges in the event of difficulties such as

difficulty to get passengers which is a necessity

because the level of income that will be obtained by

conventional taxi drivers depends on the number of

Antecedents of Employee Performance of Conventional Taxi Driver in Medan

285

passengers they serve. According to Phoolka & Kaur

(2012) Adversity Quotient can be used to predict

employee performance, motivation, creativity,

productivity of an employee within a company.

H1: There is a direct positive effect of adversity

quotient on the performance of conventional taxi

drivers in Medan City.

H2: There is an indirect positive influence of

adversity quotient on the performance of

conventional taxi drivers in Medan City.

2.2 Effect of Job Stress on Employee

Performance

Situational constraints can affect the performance,

satisfaction, and stress experienced by employee.

(Lapidus, Roberts, & Chonko, 1997). Based on the

research that is conducted by Wani (2013) it is stated

that there is a significant influence in work stress on

employee work motivation. Research conducted by

Awadh et al (2015) shows a result that as much as

44.8% work stress variables can explain the effect

on employee performance. Indicators for measuring

job stress include organizational roles, workload,

career development, relationships in work and

organizational structure and climate.

H3. There is a direct positive effect of job stress

on the performance of conventional taxi drivers in

Medan City.

H4. There is an indirect effect of job stress on the

performance of conventional taxi drivers in Medan

City.

2.3 Effect of Employee Motivation on

Job Performance

Munandar (2009) states that motivation is a process

by which there is a need to encourage a person to

carry out a series of activities to achieve the goals.

While in a large dictionary of Indonesian (KBBI)

motivation is the impulse that arises in a person

consciously or unconsciously to perform an action

with a specific purpose. Motivation of work is the

incentive and desire that is in man to carry out his

duties well (Umar, 2013). Motivation of work is an

impulse that exists within a person to carry out his

duties well so that his goals are achieved. Indicators

of employee motivation in this study uses the theory

of Herzberg in Slamet (2007): Relationship with

colleagues and manager, Work environment,

Opportunity to increase knowledge and skills and

Provision of benefits.

H5: There is a direct positive effect of employee

motivation on the performance of conventional taxi

drivers in Medan City.

2.4 Methodology

The research uses questionnaire (quantitative

research) in order to measure the influence of

adversity quotient, job stres, employee motivation

and job performance. The questionnaire is from

(Phoolka&Kaur,2012) in regard to the statements

used in the adversity quotient measurement.

Questionnaires benefited from the studies of

(Lapidus, Roberts, & Chonko, 1997) in regard to the

statements are used in job stres measurement.

Questionnaires benefited from the studies of

(Onanda,2015) in regard to the statements are used

in the employee motivation measurement. And

Questionnaire benefited from the studies of (Ali

Ahmad & Tang, 2017) in regard to the statements

are used in job performance measurement.

Adversity quotient is measured with 12 statements,

job stres with 14 statements, employee motivation

with 12 statement. and job performance with 15

statements. A five-point Likert-type scale is used for

all statements in this section.

2.4.1 Data Collection and Sample

The present study is carried out on taxi driver in

Medan. Questionnaires are delivered to 4 taxi

companies in Medan with sample size of 265

Respondents selected with convenience sampling.

2.4.2 Data Screening and Analysis

Path Analysis (Path Analysis) (Sugiyono ,2007)

show the development of linear regression analysis.

Regression analysis is a special form of path

analysis. Path analysis is used to illustrate and test

the model of relationship on the variables in the

form of cause and effect. The path model is a

diagram of independent, intermediate and dependent

variables. Pattern relationship is shown by using

arrows. Single arrows show a causal relationship

between exogenous variables or intermediaries with

one or more dependent variables. The arrows also

connect the error (variable residue) with all

endogenous variables respectively.

There are two dependent variables in the model:

Y1 and Y2. Consequently, there are two dependent

equations: Equation 1 showing the overall Work

Motivation (Y1) relationship with two variables (X1,

X2), and the second two equations showing the

ICMR 2018 - International Conference on Multidisciplinary Research

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performance relationship (Y2) with three variables

(X1, X2, Y1).

Regression Equation:

Y1 = b1X1+b2X2+e1

Y2 = b1X1+b2X2+b3Y1+e2

Remarks:

Y1 = dependent variable (employee motivation)

Y2 = dependent variable (performance of

conventional taxi driver)

b1 = regression coefficient of adversity quotient

b2 = regression coefficient of work stres

X1 = independent variable (adversity quotient)

X2 = independent variable (work stres)

e = Factors beyond Effect generated from the above

path model can be written as follows:

a. Direct Effect

i. effect of adversity quotient on job performance

X1 Y2 = ρy2x1

ii. effect of adversity quotient on employee motivation

X1 Y1 = ρy1x1

iii.effect of work stres on job performance

X2 Y2 = ρy2x2

iv. effect of eork stres on employee omtivation

X2 Y1 = ρy1x2

b. Indirect Effect

i. The effect of adversity quotient variable on performance

through employee motivation

X1 Y1 Y2 = (ρy2x1) x (ρy2y1)

ii. The effect of work stress variable on performance

through employee motivation

X2 Y1 Y2 = (ρy2x2) x (ρy2y1)

c. Total Effect

i. The influence of adversity quotient variable on performance

employee motivation

X1 Y1 Y2 = ρy2x1 + ( ρy2x1) x (ρy2x1)

ii. The effect of work stress variable on performance

through employee motivation

X2 Y1 Y2 = ρy2x2 + (ρy2x2) x (ρy2y1)

3 RESULT AND ANALYSIS

3.1 Reliability and Validity

First, this research applies item analysis to measure

the relevance of each questionnaire item. The results

show that the research variables (i.e. adversity

quotient, job stress employee motivation, and job

performance) are appropriate. Second, exploratory

factor analysis is employed and questionnaire items

which have not reached the standard for factor

selection are deleted.

3.2 Multiple Regression Analysis

The multiple-regression analysis for adversity

quotient and job stres on employee motivation; and

adversity quotient, job stres and employee

motivation on job performance, are shown in Table

I. The b values for adversity quotient and job stres

on job performance are 0.267 and 0.335,

respectively. The β values for adversity quotient, job

stres and employee motivation on job performance

are 0.363 and 0.530, respectively. The β values for

adversity quotient, job stres and employee

performance on job performance are 0.250, 0.326,

and 0.058, respectively. The variables show a

positive significant relation between adversity

quotient and job stres. And only employee

motivation shows a positive but not significant

relation . The adjusted R2 are 0.213, and 0.165,

respectively. The explained variation for all

variables are not high. Therefore, it means that

adversity quotient and job stres will not have

significant effects on job performance; adversity

quotient, job stres and employee motivation will not

not have significant effects on job performance

either.

Table I: The Multiple Regression Analysis.

Based on the Table I The model is Y1 =

30,7878 + 0,301 X1 + 0,175 X2 (where y is

employee motivation, X1 is adversity quotient, X2 is

job stres). Adversity quotient shows a positive

significant relation. And job stres shows a positive

but not significant relation. The adjusted R

is 0.165

and the explained variation for all variables is not

high. Therefore, it means that adversity quotient and

job stres will have a positive and not significant

effects on job performance.

The second model is Y2 = 57,381 + 0,250 X1 +

0,326 X2 + 0,058Y1 + e2. (where y is job

performance, X1 is adversity quotient, X2 is job

stres and Y1 is employee motivation). Adversity

quotient and work stres show a positive significant

relation. And employee motivation shows a positive

but not significant relation. The adjusted R

is 0.222

Antecedents of Employee Performance of Conventional Taxi Driver in Medan

287

and the explained variation for all variables is not

high. Therefore, it means that adversity quotient and

job stres and employee motivation will have a

positive and not significant effects on job

performance.

3.3 Testing the Intervening Effects of

Employee Motivation

The multiple-regression analysis for adversity

quotientm work stres and employee motivation on

job performance is shown in Table I. As indicated in

these tables, the β value, Beta value, t-value and all

other values achieve a positive level. Based on

Tables I, it is found that the standardized coefficient

of adversity quotient, work stres and employee

motivation on job performance is 0.282, 0.320 and

0.055. The path coefficient for employee motivation

on job performance decreases from 0.058 to 0.055,

showing that employee motivation is an intervening

variable on job performance. Furthermore, this

implies that the influence of adversity quotient and

work stres on job performance during the process

will partially affect employee motivation and then in

turn, will affect the job performance.

3.4 Path Analysis

Path analysis (PATH Analysis) in this research can

be described as in the following figures:

Figure 2: Path Analysis Result.

The direct, indirect and total effect can be seen

in Table 2 below:

Table 2: Direct, Indirect, Total Effect.

Based on calculations on Table 2, the calculation

of indirect effect is obtained from multiplication of

direct performance coefficient AQ to employee

motivation, with influence of employee motivation

to performance (0,465x0,359) = 0,166935. The same

calculation is also for work stress variable. The total

effect is gained by summing up the direct and

indirect effects. Based on the results it is seen that

the values of both direct and indirect impact of

adverity quotient and work stres on job performance,

adversity quotient and work stres possess significant

influence on job performance. Therefore, if a

company would like to enhance job performance, it

has not only to improve the employee motivation but

also to manage the adversity quotient and work stres

for employee so that it is possible to effectively

enhance overall performance.

3.5 Discussion and Implication

The results of this study indicate that adversity

quotient and work stres are significantly affect the

employee motivation and job performance.

According to the result of the multiple regression

analysis (Table I), there is a significant positive

effect between adversity quotient and work stres

with employee motivation and job performance.

Moreover, the factors of adversity quotient show a

significantly positive affect with employee

motivation and job performance. This means that if

the adversity quotient and work stres are superior, it

can significantly enhance employee motivation and

organizational performance. This study further

shows that the β value of adversity quotient is more

than the work stres, particularly shown in Table I.

This implies that the adversity quotient can

effectively enhance employee motivation and job

performance compared to work stres. Thus there

should be an endeavor to attract and encourage their

employees to participate in facing the adversity

situation and work stres situation, as well as enhance

their employee motivation and job performance,

particularly adversity quotient. For example, AQ can

be useful to predict performance, motivation,

empowerment, creativity, productivity, learning,

energy, hope, happiness, vitality, emotional health,

physical health, persistence, resilience, attitude,

longevity and response to change.

(Phoolka&Kaur,2012). Furthermore, a firm should

allow their employees to have the ability to face the

adversity situation, solve problems, and to have the

ability to face the work stres situation.

Based on the results of the path analysis, it is

found that adversity quotient and work stres possess

direct influence to enhance job performance;

moreover, employee motivation is also indirectly

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interrelated in terms of enhancing job performance.

This shows that a taxi driver possesses better

management in the adversity quotient and work

stres. Dr. Stoltz in (Phoolka&Kaur,2012) shows that

team conducting research with sales employees of

SBC Telecommunication finds that sales persons

with high AQ scores sells more than those with low

AQ. In another study conducted at Deloitte and

Touche, the team finds that AQ of top performers

exceeds the AQ of low performers by 17 points

which indicate AQ can be a measure of employee

performance. By giving AQ training to the

employees, AQ of the employees can be improved.

Companies like SunTrust measures the AQ of every

applicant before hiring him/her.

4 CONCLUSION

Despite of the belief that adversity quotient and

work stres decrease the job performance and

employee motivation increases job performance,

researchers have attempted very little theoretical

work on the development of relationships among

adversity quotient, work stres, employee

motivation, and job performance. As such, this study

investigates the affect among adversity quotient,

work stres, employee motivation and job

performance. The results indicate that employee

motivation is not an important intervening variable

on employee(in this research a taxi driver). A

research done in Malaysia recommends that there is

a need for employers to restructure the methodology

for training employees on soft-skills (Ibrahim,

Boerhannoeddin, & Kazeem Kayode, 2017).

Another research related to job performance

states that High commitment HR practices are

related to employee performance through the

mediating effect of perceived organizational support,

a fulfilled psychological contract and job security, as

key features of the employment relationship, and job

satisfaction (Latorre et al., 2016). Another variable

that affects job performance is customer orientation

(Boles, Babin, Brashear, & Brooks, 2001). Job

performance is a behaviour that is consistent with

organizational objectives and is generally assessed

on the basis of employees’ achievement of these

objectives. Participative leadership, instrumental

leadership, satisfaction with supervisor, turnover

intentions, and work effort are variables that affect

job performance (Mulki, Caemmerer, & Heggde,

2015).

This research applies a convenience sampling

method and obtains enough number of respondents.

Therefore, it is suggested that future researchers

should apply another sampling method to collect

more responses to increase the generalizability. On

the other hand, a regression analysis method is

applied to simplify the research framework and to

investigate the affects among adversity quotient,

work stres, employee motivation and job

performance. Hence, it might be more difficult to

explain the overall model of this research. It is

suggested that future researchers should apply the

structural equation model to further verify the model

in order to simplify the elaboration of the research

structure.

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