Work Environment and Discipline on Employee Performance via Motivation and Satisfaction

Abstrak

Purpose: This study investigates the influence of the work environment and work discipline on employee performance at the East Java Customs and Excise Regional Office 1, examining work motivation and job satisfaction as intervening variables.

Methodology: A quantitative, causal research design was employed. Data were collected via structured questionnaires from all 68 employees of the office using a total sampling technique, and hypotheses were tested using Structural Equation Modeling with
Partial Least Squares (SEM-PLS) through SmartPLS.

Results: The work environment and work discipline each exert a significant positive effect on work motivation and job satisfaction. However, neither variable directly and significantly affects employee performance. Motivation does not significantly influence performance, whereas job satisfaction does so positively and significantly. Mediation analysis shows that motivation does not significantly mediate the relationship between the two independent variables and performance, while job satisfaction significantly mediates the effect of the work environment on performance but not the effect of work discipline on performance.

Conclusions: Job satisfaction, rather than motivation, is the more consequential psychological mechanism linking organizational conditions to performance in this public-sector setting.

Limitations: The cross-sectional single-institution design and modest sample size constrain causal inference and generalizability.

Contributions: The study extends motivation-satisfactionperformance theory to an Indonesian customs administration context, offering practical guidance for public human-resource management and refining the boundary conditions under which motivation mediates performance outcomes in bureaucratic organizations.