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Table 3 Examples of meaning units, condensed meaning units, sub-themes and themes in qualitative content analysis

From: The inescapable question of fairness in Pay-for-performance bonus distribution: a qualitative study of health workers’ experiences in Tanzania

Category: bonus distribution concerns in OpenCode 3.6

Meaning unit

Condensed meaning unit

Interpretation underlying meaning

Sub-theme

Theme

Description close to the text

The report for RBF comes from RCH every end of the month, but when the bonus come it is shared equally, even with ecurity guards

RCH staff do more work

RBF indicators are from RCH

Negative perceptions towards RBF bonus distribution and their influence on social and work relations

Perceived unfairness over RBF bonus

I think it is a normal problem for human to fight for money. Sometimes you see someone who doesn’t even put an effort at work claiming that they need more bonus share

Money always cause problems

Sharing money is a problem

RCH’s work is important but they cannot accomplish this task alone, why then do they need more bonus than anyone else. Everyone deserves the same RBF bonus.

Flat rates are fair ‘everyone toils’

A flat rate need to be used for RBF bonuses

When we sit and try to solve our problems here concerning RBF bonus, the RCH staff do not support me because RBF favors them. I see this program has some negative impacts. Just imagine you have a family and you give food to one of your child while the others are looking

RBF encouraging conflicts among workers

RBF bonus distribution causing conflicts

We normally get our bonuses too late. Sometimes, some people can get their money early while others get it late and we wonder how this is possible

The need for RBF bonus to be distributed timeously

Bonus is delayed

RBF management concerns/problems

Sometimes we do good work and report good data, but during the verification process, somehow we always end up with lower figures. This affects our RBF bonus money. We don’t know what they take into consideration

Data is not captured properly

RBF data is not captured properly

The thing I don’t like about RBF is that it doesn’t consider the workload. As you can see we are a dispensary here but we do a lot and serve many people, …sometimes more than a health centre but when RBF bonus money come they don’t consider that workload or the number of people we serve

Target setting not fair

The criteria for setting RBF targets not fair