An Analytical Study of Work Motivation among the Agricultural Extension Workers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

The efficiency of workers depends on their abilities, skills and motivation to utilize these abilities and skills in performing their duties. Thus, the level of workers' motivation is considered and important determinant of their efficiency. This study is intended to determine the Saudi Agricultural Extension Workers' level of motivation and its correlates. Data was collected through mail questionnaire from all (266) the Extension Workers and the response rate was 69.5%. Percentages, arithmetic mean, standard deviation, and stepwise multiple regression was used to analyze data using SPSS. The study results showed that 60.6%, 32.4% and 7.0% of the respondents have high, medium and low level of motivation respectively. Moreover the study revealed that the factors that have significant effect the Saudi Agricultural Extension workers are: relation with and appreciation by colleagues and supervisors, extent of benefit from training, relevancy of training to agricultural extension tasks, and the extension worker knowledge of the work rules and regulations. These fours factors explained 58.8% of the total variation in the in the agricultural extension workers level of motivation. The study also indicated that the most important constraints hindering agricultural extension efficiency in Saudi Arabia are: farmers dependence on foreign laborers, unavailability of the farmers in their farms, lack of incentives to agricultural extension workers, low educational level of the farmers and lack of subject matter specialists.