6576 Relationship Analysis between Socio-Economic Variables and Job Performance of Accredited Social Health Activists in Maharashtra Manjusha Manohar Kharole* AbstrAct National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) was launched in India in 2005. It brought a new concept of Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) in to the arena of health sector of India. Since it is a new concept it is imperative to study the effect of socio economic variables on the job performance of ASHAs. Coefficient of correlation was applied to carry out the relational analysis between socio- economic variables and job performance of ASHAs. It was seen that age was positively related with job performance whereas all other independent variables were negatively and significantly related with job performance. Keywords : ASHA; Job performance; Correlation; Maharashtra. *Department of Child Development, SNDT Women's University, Mumbai - 400 020. India Received : 18-07-2019; Accepted : 03-06-2021 India is the second most populated country in the world and faces a number of developmental hazards. It is plagued by poverty, hunger, unemployment, corruption, illiteracy, unsafe drinking water, lack of sanitation, malnutrition and poor health. Even though India has come a long way since independence and worked towards the upliftment of it’s people, the health front has remained little neglected since independence. The main cause of this is shortage of health care personnel serving in the rural areas. According to WHO , CHWs (Child Health Workers) are men and women chosen by the community , and trained to deal with the health problems of individuals and the community, and work in close relationship with the health services. They should have a level of primary education that enables to read ,write, and do simple mathematical calculations. Keeping this in mind, Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) were introduced through National Rural Health Mission, launched in 2005. The success of any welfare programme depends upon the job performance of the individuals working to carry out that programme.If the performance is not up to the mark, it may result in under achievement of the goals . It is therefore Research Note Journal of Extension Education Vol. 32 No. 3, 2020 DOI:https://doi.org/10.26725/JEE.2020.3.32.6576-6578 6577 imperative to study the relationship between socio-economic variables and job performance of ASHAs. It is in this context that the study was undertaken with the following specific objective: To study the relationship between socio-economic variables and job performance of ASHAs. MEtHodology The study was carried out in Jalgaon District of Maharashtra state. A multistage random sampling technique was adopted for selection of panchayat samitis, villages and respondents. Number of respondents was 240. Job performance was the dependent variable.The socio-economic variables viz. age, caste,education,experience,trainings , husband’s occupation, and family income were the independent variables. The coefficient of correlation was applied to carry out the relational analysis between socio-economic variables and job performance of ASHAs.The relationship was significant if the calculated value of ‘r’ was greater than table value of ‘r’ at either 0.01 or 0.05 level of probability.Step down regression analysis was done to identify the least significant independent variable and eliminating it at every other step. FiNdiNgS ANd diScuSSioN Relationship between independent Variables and Job Performance To determine the relationship between independent variables and job performance, correlation analysis was done.The results have been presented in Table 1. The data revealed that age (r = 0.6953) was positively related with job performance. This is supported by Yadav and Dhillon (2013). This may be because of the fact that with increase in age, there is increase in general experience. They can perform better with increase in experience. Job performance was found to be negatively related with caste (r = -0.6384), educational qualification (r= -0.6699), experience (r= -0.3189), trainings attended (r = -0.1915), husband’s occupation (r= -0.6290), income (r= -0.9392). Increase in caste level tends to decrease job performance. This may be attributed to the possible reason that higher caste ASHAs do not freely mix with all the categories of people. This tends to decrease their job performance. Increase in educational qualification decreases job performance. Since higher education increases expectations of getting good jobs, highly qualified ASHAs may not show any interest in their jobs and hence their performance decreases. Job performance decreases with increase in experience.As more experience could possibly make them aware of various escape routes of not doing the job, it tends to decrease their job performance. This is supported by the study conducted by Yadav and Dhillon (2013) who reported that the job performance of GBPUAT respondents showed negative correlation with experience.Increase in number of trainings attended decreases job performance .This finding is supported by Lakoh (1988) who reported that high order of VEW training in Relationship Analysis between Socio-Economic Variables and Job Performance of Accredited Sociol Health Activists in Maharashtra 6578 agriculture does not necessarily mean that his job performance was also high. table 1 coefficient of correlation between independent variables and Job Performance Sl. No. independent Variables coefficient of correlation ‘r’ 1 Age 0.6953** 2 Caste -0.6384** 3 Educational qualification -0.6699** 4 Experience -0.3189** 5 Trainings attended -0.1915** 6 Husband’s occupation -0.6290** 7 Family income -0.9392** ** Significant at 0.01 level of probability * Significant at 0.05 level of probability Stepdown regression analysis Results revealed that, all the independent variables together caused 89.50 percent variation in job performance of ASHAs. In the second model, experience was excluded as it was causing least variation in job performance. In the third model, age was excluded for causing least variation. All the remaining five variables accounted for 89.50 percent variation in job performance and age alone accounted for 0.03 percent variation. The study has shown that that age was positively related with job performance whereas all other independent variables were negatively and significantly related with job performance. Step down regression analysis showed that experience was causing least variation in job performance. Therefore while making policies for improving job performance variables like age, caste, education, training, husband’s occupation and family income should be taken into account. REFERENcES Lakoh, A.K. (1988). Extension Agents’ Job Design, Satisfaction, and performance Model : Determining Interfaces. Journal of Extension Systems. 4(1) : 90-94 Yadav.K & Dhillon.D.S. (2013). Variations in specified factors among state agricultural universities of Northern Region with Respect to Job Satisfaction and Performance. Indian Journal of Extension Education. 13 (1) : 26-30. Journal of Extension Education