EFFECTS OF SELF EFFICACY, PUBLIC SERVICE MOTIVATION AND CAREER OPPORTUNITY ON THE PERFORMANCE OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES IN NIGERIA

Local government employees play a crucial role in the provision of goods and services to the general public at grassroot level. In practice, however, they are often beencriticized for providing inferior services due to deficiencies related to their employees’ ability, motivation and opportunity in performing their assigned responsibilities. This paper, empirically study the effects of Self Efficacy, Public Service Motivation and Career Opportunity on the performance of local government employees. Ability,Motivation and Opportunity (AMO) theory was the main theoretical basis and the data for the study was obtained from a sample of 186 local government employees in Nigeria.Results of the study revealed that all the three independent variables (Self Efficacy, Public Service Motivation and Career Opportunity) exerted significant positive influence on the performance of local government employees. The study conclude that for local government to efficiently and effectively provides the required goods andservices to the general public, enhancing their employees’ Self Efficacy, Public Service Motivation and Career Opportunity is imperative.