Influence of Job Motivation on Effective Job Performance of Library Personnel in Universities

1. Introduction

Job performance of university library personnel goes a long way in either making an organisation achieve success or drawbacks to its vision and mission statement. The more efficient library personnel are, the more users will use the library and its resources, and this in turn could improve the quality of their learning and research output. Administrative, technical and advisory are the main categories for the work done by library personnel. The management of the library consists of the organisation and supervision of the library’s daily duties. Advisory duties ensure that university library users are provided and get in contact with needed information services available at the circulation or reference unit, while the technical services deal with the acquisition, processing, and organisation of resources for easy retrieval and access to the library users (Ukangwa, Onuoha, & Otuza, 2020).

Conversely, the efficiency and effectiveness of these services are dependent on the amount of service provided by the university library. A university library is an example of an academic library which serves as a repository of information resources in different disciplines, set up to enhance the intellectual activities of the university. The library is the nerve center of the university and it is set up to provide material and services which caters for the needs of the entire university. It also plays important role in meeting the information and research purpose of the users and the faculty members. University library users include undergraduates, postgraduates, researchers, information professionals, staff and other users from outside the university, the library personnel with the cadres of library heads or junior staff in university libraries that have skills in readers’ services, technical processing, and user education are responsible for the provision of information services to the users. However, the level of the job performance of library personnel could determine the use of the library by the library users.

According to Christopher (2020), job performance is the net effect of a person’s effort as modified by his/her abilities, traits and role perception. Kalu and Okpokwasili (2018) asserted that job performance is the discharge of core tasks based on employees’ area of specialization towards attaining an establishment’s objectives defines. In other words, job performance simply means the discharge of core duties or tasks of library personnel in their various area of specialization in the university library. Job performance is largely determined by indicators such as task performance, adaptive performance, contextual performance, counterproductive work behaviour. The indicators for job performance in this study are task performance, adaptive performance and contextual performance. Koopmans, Bernaards, Hildebrant, and De Vet, (2013) noted that task performance is the proficiency with which an employee performs central job tasks in an organisation. Task performance has direct implications for the achievement of the university library objectives and also covers the job description of library personnel in the university library. The core duties of library personnel include the acquisition of information resources, reference services, cataloging and classification, circulation services, user education, and so on. The core activities for which the library is known will be used to gauge its overall job performance. Apart from task performance, another indicator or component of job performance is adaptive performance.

Adaptive performance is an employee’s skill or proficiency to adapting to changes in work roles or environment (Griffin, Neal, & Parker, 2007). Library personnel have different levels of ability which can affect their ability to deal with changes in their profession. Modern library personnel needs a lot of adaption due to the plethora of changes caused by emerging technology, dwindling funding, and changes in the format and mode of information delivery. There are reports of resistance to change on the part of library personnel and an inability to adapt to the new system of library services provision characterized by access to information as opposed to serving as an information warehouse. However, the issues raised in adaptive performance make contextual performance highly important. Contextual performance is another component of job performance.

Contextual performance is also referred to as organisational citizenship. Contextual performance refers to the employee behaviours that support the organizational, social, psychological environment in which the central job tasks are performed Koopmans, et al. (2013). Employees who are friendly and altruistic will make the work environment more pleasant. Library personnel is required to be evaluated based on their contextual performance because of the emphasis on team work in the profession. The readiness of library personnel to help one another, taking up the duty of an indisposed or busier person, being friendly, serving as mentors to recruits, and promoting the interest of the organisation are all manifestations of contextual performance. The disparities in the job performance of library personnel in university libraries can be caused by lots of factors which can be tagged as job performance determinants. Based on observations and ideas obtained from literature, series of determining or anchor factors can possibly influence the job performance of library personnel in the university library, among these factors is job motivation.

Job motivation according to Ali and Ahmed (2016) is defined as a rewards/incentive that drives library personnel to perform efficiently to assigned duty. The direction and diligence of action of library personnel are designated. Job motivation is getting someone to do something because they want to do it. Organizational behaviour scholars described job motivation as what pushes employees to achieve usual goal. In other words, if the university library wants its library personnel to perform expectedly as information professionals in order to accomplish the university’s goals and objectives, there could be a kind of job motivation that will encourage the library personnel to perform in a preferred way. Akparobore and Omosekejimi (2020) viewed motivation in the library context as the ways, plans, and events that librarian use to provide the needs and a conducive environment which will satisfy and enable the personnel to effectively discharge their assigned responsibilities. The university library headed by the University Librarian in universities could increase the existing level of job motivation within among library personnel.

Consequently, motivational factors can be seen in various models and theories. Herzberg’s identification hygiene and motivators factors are the main components of job motivation used in this study. Herzberg stated that hygiene factors can reduce levels of dissatisfaction. Hygiene factors are extrinsic to the job, and some of these factors are interpersonal relationships, salary, working conditions, supervision and company policies. On the other hand, motivators involve factors built into the job itself, such as achievement, recognition, responsibility and advancement. Motivator factors make people as well as library personnel happy in meeting their needs for living and growth. According to Robbins (2001), motivation is a needs-satisfying process, which means that when a person’s needs are satisfied by certain factors, the person will exert superior effort toward attaining organisational goals. Once the hygiene issues are taken care of, Herzberg says that the motivators will make the job more enjoyable once the hygiene issues are fixed. Promotion, compensation, and work environment are elements of the Herzberg theory that are relevant to the library environment. Likewise, when library personnel’s needs are satisfied by promotion, compensation and work environment, such library personnel will exert more effort toward attaining the university library goals and objectives.

The environment in which library personnel work is expected to be stress-free. The atmosphere created by the leader as well as the subordinates affects the organisational environment. When the work environment is friendly, employees in an organisation, including library personnel will work harder to achieve the organisational goals. Ifijeh and Yusuf (2020) reported that there are libraries without the necessary facilities to work, library personnel without offices to work, and offices too hot to work due to a lack of air conditioners may not be productive owing unsatisfied work environment. Most of the previous studies conducted focuses on job motivation and it enhances job performance neglecting the use of theory in which the present study has adopted Fredrick Herzberg Hygiene Theory with focus on hygiene factor and motivator, making the present study unique to those conducted in the past. The modern university library is constantly being challenged to innovate and deliver the best collection and services which attract more users to use the library regularly. For the level of job performance of library personnel in the university library to be high, factor like job motivation that serves as its determinant need to be considered. Job motivation such as promotion, compensation, conducive work environment may determine the level of job performance by library personnel in university libraries. The leadership style is also needed to motivate library personnel to put in their best in rendering their services to the users. The library personnel are expected to perform to the best of their abilities, to meet the high expectation placed on the library by the users and other stakeholders. It is on this premise that this study is being carried out to examine the influence of job motivation on job performance of personnel in university libraries in Oyo state, Nigeria.

2. Literature review

The literature review was empirical in nature with search terms such job performance, job motivation as well as library personnel was focused on. Various search engines like Firefox, Google chrome, Scholar and Opera mini were used to retrieve information while databases like ProQuest, Ebrary, Ebscohost, Springer, Jstor etcetera were used to source for relevant information to write the literature review.

2.3 Theoretical framework Fredrick Herzberg Hygiene Theory

Frederick Herzberg’s Hygiene Theory was developed in 1959. Also known as the Two Factor Theory of Job Motivation. The model measures job motivation by two main constructs; hygiene and motivators both are the factors in the workplace that cause job motivation or dissatisfaction respectively (Bawa, 2017). The hygiene factors include salary, supervision, management policies, working conditions, interpersonal relations, and job security. The motivators include growth opportunities, responsibility, recognition, advancement, and achievement. According to the theory, the factor that causes job satisfaction is termed ‘motivators’ while the factors that lead to dissatisfaction are also identified and referred to as ‘hygiene factors. Both factors drive the desire of library personnel to continue working for a particular library with the assurance of growth and development. The Hygiene factors that can affect job motivation among librarians and library personnels include company policy, physical workplace (workplace environment), salary, fringe benefits, job security, status, working conditions, and supervision, among others, this makes the job environment friendly and the library personnel comfortable in his job.

The theory states that the motivators and hygiene factors are not the same. Even if hygiene factors are provided, they do not necessarily lead to job motivation. Motivators must be present to promote job motivation. The theory states that for library personnel to be truly satisfied and perform above minimum standards, motivators had to be built into their job. The hygiene issues, such as salary and supervision, decrease employees’ dissatisfaction with the work environment. Recognition and achievement make library personnel more productive. Hygiene factors are needed to maintain effective library services while motivators are needed to stimulate innovative library services. The main implication of this theory is that library personnel have to be satisfied and perform beyond minimum standards to keep their jobs. Herzberg’s theory has led to the modern interest in the design of jobs and to what is called job enrichment where the task is enriched with motivators such as responsibility, challenges, and recognition (Ogiamien & Izuagbe, 2016).

Conversely, in the context of university libraries, library personnel may not be motivated by their pay but they may derive satisfaction from being able to meet the information needs of their users, guiding a new student in the use of the library or electronic resources, or finding information resources that users have lost any hope of finding. Library personnel’s job motivation can also come from being recognised by their superiors, institution, and even colleagues for a job well done. Furthermore, as it has been pointed out in other studies, the work environment in which library personnel operates can also serve as a motivator or demotivator depending on how conducive and healthy the environment is. Figure 1 below displayed the theory underpinned the present study.

Figure 1.

Herzberg’s motivation theory

3. Methodology

The research design adopted for this study was the descriptive survey research design. The study allowed the researcher to focus on the real subject of the research variables (Job Motivation and Job Performance of Library Personnel in University Libraries in Oyo State, Nigeria) from whom the data were obtained and without manipulation of data. The variables were established based on the study topic vis-a-viz the dependent and independents variables. The focus population for this study comprised all Librarians, Library officers and Library assistants in both public and private Universities, Oyo State. As obtained from National university commission website, there are Ten (10) universities in Oyo State and one was established by Federal Government, two by State Government while seven by Private individuals and organisations. The total number of library personnel under study was expected to be one hundred and sixty-four (164).

A census sampling technique were used for this study due to manageable number of population and therefore, the entire 164 library personnel from the 10 universities in Oyo States were used as study sample. The questionnaire was the major instrument used for data collection. The questionnaire contains questions and statement to job performance of library personnel. It contains 16 statements measured on a Four-Point Likert Scale of 4- Very High Extent; 3-High Extent, 2-Low Extent and 1- Very Low Extent. The statements to measure the level of job motivation contains promotion, compensation, conducive work environment of library personnel among universities in Oyo State, Nigeria. The research questions data collected were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics while Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient (PPMCC) was used to find the relationship between the two variables (job motivation and job performance) hypothesized.

4. Results and discussion of findings

The results were presented according to the research questions. The level of job performance of the library personnel was presented first with regards task, contextual and adaptive performance. While table 2 focuses on motivating factors to enhance job performance, the hygiene factor and motivator were mainly focused on.

• Research question one: What is the level of job performance of library personnel among universities in Oyo State, Nigeria? The Likert used are Very High Level (VHL), High Level (HL), Low Level (LL) and Very Low Level (VLL).

As shown in table 1, the grand mean (x=2.85) is higher than the criterion mean (x=2.50). This means that the level of job performance of library personnel among universities in Oyo State is high. The average mean obtained for task performance (x=2.80), contextual performance (x=2.79), adaptive performance (x=2.97) are all above the criterion mean of 2.50. Also, the mean obtained by all the items in task performance, contextual performance and adaptive performance is above the criterion mean. This is an indication that the level of job performance among library personnel is high as this is expected to enhances productivity of job in the library. More so, there is also an indication that relationship exist between the task performance, contextual performance and adaptive performance. It is expected that if the work environment is conducive for personnel, they tend to perform better in their job which in turn improve productivity.

Table 1.

Level of job performance of library personnel among universities in Oyo State, Nigeria

• Research question two: What is the level of job motivation (promotion, compensation, conducive work environment) of library personnel among universities in Oyo State, Nigeria? The Likert used are Very High Level (VHL), High Level (HL), Low Level (LL) and Very Low Level (VLL).

Table 2 shows that the grand mean (x=2.77) is higher than the criterion mean (x=2.50). This means that the level of job motivation (promotion, compensation, conducive work environment) among library personnel in the sampled universities in Oyo State, Nigeria is high. The average mean for both the hygiene factor (x=2.76) and motivator (x=2.79) are above the criterion mean of (x=2.50). However, some items in hygiene like my salary is adequate with my job in this library (x=2.46), I receive the information I need to do my job effectively (x=2.41), and my salary is enough to take care of my needs (x=2.37) and motivator such as I have great opportunity provided for career advancement (x=2.47) are below the criterion mean. This implies that the impact of promotion, compensation, conducive work environment and so on cannot be jettison. This is an indication appropriate salary that will cater for library personnel need must be paid, this will equally enhance job performance.

Table 2.

Level of job motivation (promotion, compensation, conducive work environment) of library personnel among universities in Oyo State, Nigeria

4.1 Testing of the hypotheses

Hypothesis 1:There is no significant relationship between motivation (promotion, compensation, conducive work environment) and job performance of library personnel among universities in Oyo State, Nigeria.

From table 3 above, Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient r = 0.114. Since the significant value (Sig. 2-tailed) is 0.029 (which is less than 0.05), it can therefore be concluded that significant relationship exists between motivation variable and job performance variable of library personnel among universities in Oyo State, Nigeria. The null hypothesis is therefore rejected while the alternative hypothesis is accepted. This implies that an increase in the level of motivation will lead to corresponding increase in the level of job performance among the library personnel in the universities.

Table 3.

Relationship between motivation (promotion, compensation, conducive work environment) and job performance of library personnel among universities in Oyo State, Nigeria

5. Discussion of the findings

The first research question found from the data obtained for this research that the level of job performance of library personnel among universities in Oyo State is high. This is in agreement with study by Ogiamien and Izuagbe (2016) who reported that there was high level of job performance among the librarians in South-South Nigeria. Furthermore, the above findings were corroborated by Anyim (2020) who affirmed that the level of job performance of the librarians in Polytechnic libraries in India is high, this was attributed to the cordial relationship that exists between the library management and the librarians. Also & Fattah (2017) submitted that the level of job performance is usually high when the staffs are well-motivated. This implies that both financial motivation such as salary, regular promotion and other fringe benefits and non-financial motivation such as good working environment, recognition among others are important factors in determining the job performance of librarians.

The second research question from the data obtained for this research discovered that the level of job motivation (promotion, compensation, conducive work environment) among library personnel in the sampled universities in Oyo State, Nigeria is high. This was in agreement with that by Yaya (2018) reported that for effective job performance among library personnel in Nigerian public university libraries, motivation is necessary. In contrary however, Babalola and Nwalo (2018) indicated that majority of the librarians at Colleges of Education in Nigeria are not productive owing to poor motivation that they received from the library management.

The hypothesis confirmed that significant relationship exists between motivation and job performance of library personnel among universities in Oyo State, Nigeria. This was in consonant with study by Agada, Ogbole, and Tofi (2020) who indicated that promotion and regular salary payment have significant influence on job performance of library personnel in university libraries in Nasarawa State. Also, the result was in tandem with that by Babalola and Nwalo (2018) who confirmed that job motivation influenced the productivity of librarians to a significant extent level. In contrast, Ubagu, Achia, and Gbuushi (2020) revealed in their study that timely promotion and good work environment have significant difference on job performance of library personnel in Benue State universities.

6. Conclusion

The need to ensure effective job performance by library personnel is becoming increasingly crucial in the contemporary era as the information needs of library users have to be met at every point in time. Since libraries are service oriented organisations, the onus is on library personnel to put in their best to actualise the objective of the libraries which is to ensure effective delivery of services that will satisfy the needs of their patrons. Meanwhile, job performance of library personnel hinges on job motivation adopted by the libraries. This study established that job motivation adopted by the library personnel among universities are significant factors in ensuring high level of job performance among library personnel. Availability of motivational ingredients which have human face is very necessary in an effort to ensure that the library personnel put all energy to their job, thereby enhancing their job performance.

7. Recommendation

The following recommendations were made based on the study findings:

• 1) University library management should ensure timely promotion of the library personnel so as to enhance job productivity.
• 2) The library management should formulate functional policy that will motivate library personnel to be satisfy with their work which in turn will improve job performance.
• 3) Conducive environment, good offices as well as working tools should be provided to library personnel in order to boost job productivity.
• 4) Training and re-training and other job motivators should be provided so as to motivate library personnel in charging and discharging of their assigned duties in the library.
• 5) Government should consider attractive renumeration that is commensurate to economy status For government staff in which library personnel is not an exception.

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