Pengaruh kompetensi dan motivasi kerja terhadap peningkatan prestasi kerja kakitangan perbankan Islam di Malaysia: faktor keagamaan sebagai moderator

The purpose of this study is to explore the influence of competency and motivation towards the improvement of job performance among the Islamic bank staffs in Malaysia with the moderator effect of religiosity. Islamic banks need to be more aggressive in providing the human capital that is competent, motivated, and understands the true purpose of the Islamic banking system. Studies related to Islamic banking have been widely conducted, but the use of McClelland and Spencer & Spencer theory to examine the effect of competency and job motivation on improving job performance is still limited. Specifically, the first objective of the study is to determine the influence of competency towards the job performance of Islamic banking staffs in Malaysia. The second objective is to find out the effect of job motivation on improving job performance while the third and fourth objectives are to look at the moderator effect of religiosity. A quantitative approach through self-administrated questionnaire is adopted. The total number of respondents is 370, where cluster and random sampling is used to select the respondents from each branches of Islamic banks in Malaysia. The results showed that two variables technical competency (β = 0.317, t = 4.484 p < 0.05), and behavioral competency (β = 0.294, t = 3.594 p < 0.05) were significantly influencing the improvement of job performance. While ihsan (β = 0.01, t = 0.213 p> 0.05) and job motivation (β = 0.078, t =1.386 p>0.05) were not significant. The study had also revealed that the religiosity was not significantly moderating the relationship between competency, ihsan and job motivation towards the job improvement performance. Finally, this study has significant implications to the several interested parties in the Islamic banking industry. For the management of Islamic banks, the staff recruitment should not merely base on the experience and educational level but also to look into the positive personal attributes, attitudes and values. This is because the career in Islamic banking is not merely as a career but it is a responsibility where sincerity is needed in every aspect of the working environment.