ABSTRACT
This study examined job satisfaction and performance of librarians in Federal University Libraries in South East Nigeria. The study was guided by six research questions. Descriptive survey was used to conduct the study. The population of the study was made up of 110 librarians in the four federal university libraries in South East Nigeria. And the libraries are Nnamdi Azikiwe Library University of Nigeria Nsukka (62), Nnamdi Azikiwe University Library, Awka (15), Federal University of Technology Owerri (26), and Michael Okpara University of Agriculture Library, Umudike (7). Data relevant for the study was collected using questionnaire and a total of 92 out of 110 questionnaires distributed were returned and found usable. Data were analyzed by mean, percentages and frequency. The findings revealed that general job satisfaction exist among the librarians in federal university libraries in South East Nigeria. This was as a result of the existence of constituents of job satisfaction such as opportunity for promotion, good working environment and salary. It also revealed that job satisfaction has great influence on job performance. Equally, the study reveals that lack of opportunity for promotion is the greatest factor that can affect their job satisfaction and performance and the existence of promotion opportunities and other factors such as, salary increment, opportunity for training, concrete job description will to a very great extent enhance the job satisfaction and performance of these librarians. The study recommended that, the existing constituents of job satisfaction should be sustained and improved by adjusting to changes, restructuring of appraisal system to accommodate the changes brought by ICT, putting management induced inefficiency into consideration when judging staff performance, reviewing library policies as and when due, recruiting librarians that like the job and providing opportunities to participate in training.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
Job is a purposive human activity. It is an exercise of man’s faculties for the production of a particular desired goal in the form of goods and services. (Eze, 2002). Job has been and will continue to be part and parcel of man’s existence in this physical world. It is a means by which societal and individual needs are met. Therefore, job is very natural to man, controls and animates him both in everyday existence and in social and intellectual life. Job is not just about an employment; rather it goes further to mean an activity that produces something of value to and for the society.
Job satisfaction can be seen as a positive attitude of a worker towards his job and a pleasurable emotional state resulting from the perception of one’s job as fulfilling (Adeyemo, 2000). Hodson and Sullivan (1990) view job satisfaction as a summary attitude that people experience about their work. It is the result of their task, the characteristics of the organization. Similarly Parmer and East (1993) describe job satisfaction as relating to individual’s feeling or emotion towards work. The happier people are with their job, the more satisfied they will be. Job satisfaction (JS) as defined by Cranny, Smith and Stone cited in Weiss, (2002) is conceived as effective reaction to one’s job. Weiss (2002) on his own part argues that job satisfaction is an attitude, but points out that it should be clearly distinguished, the objects or cognitive evaluation which affect emotion, behaviors’ and beliefs. The relationship between a worker and his
job can be described in terms of the meaning, which the work holds for the persons. A person who engages on a particular job has certain values for the job; such values are strongly related to the basic needs of the individual. That is why Eze (1998), continued that job satisfaction refers to the degree to which personal needs, material and physiological, intrinsic and extrinsic are realized by the individual while performing the tasks involved in his job.
People have always asked questions why do people stay on a particular job all the days of their life?. Not all jobs have high salaries, high prestige or pleasant working conditions. Some have long hours at work, dangerous environment and a high stress. However, some people are just willing to endure these negatives and still hold onto their jobs. This can be attributed to the fact that some people might naturally like their job as it is, and not the conditions surrounding the job or they have no opportunity for a better job; and so they hold to it. However, It will not be a perfect situation even when an employee sticks to a job and the performance is in a high scale, but the workers mind is dull, his emotions wrapped and in a shattered working condition. Even if it seems perfect in the short run the effect in the long run might be doubtful. Therefore it is not appropriate to think of human element in an establishment in terms of productive efficiency alone, but of equal importance is the satisfaction derived by the individual from the job. Job satisfaction entails, the feeling on the part the individual that he shares the basic purpose of a group of which he belong. A mind set which makes it possible for him to perform his task with energy, enthusiasm, and self discipline, sustained by a conviction that in spite of obstacles and conflicts, his personal and social ideas are worth pursuing. Schneider (1991) describes job satisfaction as personality evaluation of
conditions existing on the job. Therefore, librarian job satisfaction deals with how contented librarians are with the work they do; an emotional mind set which enables librarians perform their duty as librarians with every enthusiasm, energy and conviction . This also entails the tendency of librarians to execute their duty with joy and happiness being committed to the achievement of library goals and objectives.
Job satisfaction and performance are vital issues in any establishment, be it an institution or corporate organization. In fact, anywhere work is done, the issue of satisfaction and level of performance or productivity can never be over emphasized; this explains the rationale behind job appraisal, evaluation, job redefinition and restructuring; because every establishment including the library faces the need for maximum performance, need to enhance staff satisfaction, and need to reduce loose and maximize profit. The achievements of these needs are vital for the sound and successful operation of the establishment. Societal progress will not be fully attained unless productivity is high and workers are satisfied. And the following according to Ezema (2003) can constitute sources of job satisfaction for a librarian: good wages, supervisory responsibility, a good working condition, challenging job, cordial relationship in the work place and interesting work. The absence of these conditions might manifest in a decline in the physical and mental health of the worker, absenteeism, and apathetic attitude.
However, librarians attitude in terms of satisfaction towards work may have an effect on their performance. Given the conditions under which attitude and behavior are consistent, it would be expected that job satisfaction would be a way to speculate the level of performance. Job performance therefore, can be said to be an act of executing a command, duty, purpose, promise. It can also be seen an observable, or measurable
behavior of a person in a particular situation, (Thompson, 1992). Every establishment aims at high productivity or performance without which the goal and objective of such establishment cannot be realized. It is evident that the efficiency of an organization such as the library depends immensely on the attitude of workers towards their job and their level of commitment to job performance. Generally, societal progress will not be fully attained unless productivity is high and workers are satisfied. According to Buchanan (2002), an individual performance is generally determined by factors such as motivation, the desire to do the job, the capability to do the job, and the work environment, the tools, material and information needed to do the job. If the problem is with the environment, the library management can adjust to promote higher performance. If a librarian lacks ability, the person can be trained, though the effect of such trainings seems unsatisfactory with some staff in terms of output.
Most libraries therefore spend huge sums of money for training librarians for better performance; considering the vital roles of University library and their librarians. University libraries vary in shape, size, objectives and goals, but the function are both academic and administrative, and are all designed towards the achievement of the educational objectives of the institution. It is a central service unit of operation established to provide materials and facilities for study, teaching and research carried out in the university. The vision, mission and strategies which are selected by universities as a guide for meeting these functions, form the foundation on which the roles of university library are based. Therefore, the library caters for the information needs of the university by providing reading materials for the various programmes of the university.
Librarians working in most federal university libraries are referred to as academic librarians. For one to become a librarian in most if not all university libraries, one requires at least a university or college degree. An additional graduate education in librarianship is a factor that can enhance promotions or salary increases. Education and learning are essential in making a good Librarian, but also important, is the personality of the librarian. A librarian personality is very essential in delivering an effective service. This entails his relationship and attitude towards library users, colleagues and management. To be able to achieve success, a librarian must have satisfaction with his or her work, with working conditions, and an extrinsic and intrinsic job satisfaction (Bamgboye, 2007). Furthermore, he must be committed to organizational goals and objectives; and need to abide with the ethics of the profession. The above creates an enabling environment for both the library staff and users. It is also equally obvious that the quality of library services is dependent to a great extent on the quality of the staff; his or her background, training, motivation and experience.
Federal university libraries in South East Nigeria are libraries established in federal universities in South East Nigeria. They are federal government owned university libraries, and so receive allocations and support from the federal government and some percentage of the total grant to universities are meant to go for library services, this is to enable them support the academic objectives of the host institution.
Statement of the Problem
The need for librarians and library services to the university community is so enormous that the university cannot function effectively without it. Continuous researches in the university might not be possible without effective function of libraries and librarians. Ekere (2006) stated that the university library is supposed to serve all the areas of knowledge taught in the university. Therefore to achieve these ends, the librarians have a veritable role to play. Aguolu (1986) explains that the librarians are entrusted with the responsibility of having to select from a universe of rapidly proliferating records, growing at exponential rate, those that may be needed by their actual and potential users. Equally stating that the librarians are responsible for acquiring, describing, classifying, administering, preserving and organizing these materials by introducing effective access control devices and interpret their contents through personalized services
However, despite these important roles of librarians, some librarians still exhibit poor attitude towards their work and those they serve. This apparent attitude exhibited by some librarians might be linked to lack of job satisfaction and this leads to lack of commitment to work which makes them perform below expectations. This however will affect meeting the information needs of library users thereby hindering the general progress in research, scholarship and the institutional development.
This state of affairs can be attributed to the fact that sometimes, the importance of libraries are overlooked in budget allocation, and this creates an undesirable state of affairs, which will manifest in poor working environment, security, and poor working structures. However, Abifaram (1997) stating that librarians generally are not satisfied
with their work environment as a result of poor funding of universities shows that some of this factors that constitute job satisfaction such as good salary, promotional opportunities, good working environment and good interpersonal relationship, well defined library goals, opportunity for achievement and recognition are not adequately in existence, and these can result to job dissatisfaction which might give rise to lateness to work, laziness, lack of motivation, inability to meet targets, constant sick leave and poor health condition. If the above scenario becomes the case performance may be negatively affected.
Therefore it is important to investigate this problem, in order to gain an understanding of how job satisfaction affects performance of librarians in federal university libraries in South East Nigeria.
Purpose of the Study
The general purpose of this study is to investigate the job satisfaction and performance of librarians in Federal University Libraries in South Eastern Nigeria. This study will specifically investigate:
1. Factors that constitute job satisfaction of librarians in federal university libraries in
South East Nigeria.
2. Factors that constitute job performance of librarians in federal university libraries
South East Nigeria
3. The extent to which job satisfaction influences librarian’s performance in federal university in South East Nigeria.
4. The extent librarians are satisfied with their job in federal university libraries in South
East Nigeria.
5. Factors that can influence job satisfaction and performance of librarians in federal university libraries in South East Nigeria.
6. Strategies of enhancing job satisfaction and performance of librarians in federal university libraries in South East Nigeria.
Research Questions
This study investigates the job satisfaction and performance of librarians in Federal University Libraries in South Eastern Nigeria and specifically seeks answers to the following questions:
1. What are the factors that constitute job satisfaction of librarians in federal university libraries in South East Nigeria?
2. What are the factors that constitute job performance of librarians in federal university libraries in South East Nigeria?
3. To what extent does job satisfaction influence the performance of librarians in federal university libraries in South East Nigeria?
4. To what extent are librarians in federal university libraries in South East Nigeria satisfied with their job?
5. What are the factors that affect job satisfaction and performance of librarians in federal university libraries in South East Nigeria?
6. What are the strategies of enhancing job satisfaction and performance among librarians in federal university libraries in South East Nigeria?
Significance of the Study
It is envisaged that the findings of this study would be useful to the following: the university managements, the administrators of university libraries, professional and upcoming librarians, and the entire library system.
The result of this study will help university management in general and the library administrators in particular to take personnel actions such as, need to make a transfer, promotion , job restructuring, job enlargement, by making information available about work situation; which involves an exact determination of the basic motivators in work, factors that constitute job satisfaction and performance, the level of satisfaction or dissatisfaction and, factors responsible, and it’s diverse effect on performance and means of enhancing job satisfaction and performance. The information generated in this study will equally help the library management design a balanced, effective and efficient programme of personnel policies and practices which will help in making managerial decisions on the management styles that produce the best result in terms of job satisfaction and performance of the librarians; and this will go a long way in providing maximum results in the attainment of the library goals in particular and the university goals in general and will equally help to overcome deficiencies and improve job status and the quality of working life.
Knowledge generated through this study can help librarians and library management to establish the correlation between satisfaction and performance; and how they are dependent or independent of each other; librarians can anchor on this to make demand or request about what can improve their job satisfaction and performance. Equally knowing that the extent of a librarian’s job satisfaction and performance may be
caused by a number of factors, identifying these factors will help in providing the needed solution thereby overcome deficiencies in the work environment as well as improve job status and the quality of working life of librarians.
Finally, this study will serve as a reference material for researchers carrying out studies on the area of motivation, performance and satisfaction.
Scope of the Study
The study will cover librarians in Federal University Libraries in South Eastern Nigeria and will examine the level of job satisfaction and performance of these librarians and covers variables in the research topic such as: job satisfaction, job performance, federal university librarians, influence of job satisfaction on performance, what constitute job satisfaction and performance, strategies for enhancing job satisfaction and performance. In terms of geographical coverage, the areas covered in the study are: Anambra, Enugu, Abia, and Imo state.
This material content is developed to serve as a GUIDE for students to conduct academic research
JOB SATISFACTION AND PERFORMANCE OF LIBRARIANS IN FEDERAL UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES IN SOUTH EAST NIGERIA
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