THE ESSENTIALITY OF MOTIVATION ON LIBRARIANS’ PRODUCTIVITY IN NIGERIAN PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES

Japheth Abdulazeez Yaya1

1JC Pool Library, The Nigerian Baptist Theological Seminary, Ogbomoso, Oyo State, Nigeria

ABSTRACT

The study examined the essentiality of motivation in enhancing the effectiveness of librarians in Nigerian public universities. It adopted correlation survey research design. Its population consisted of 1,254 librarians in public university libraries in Nigeria, from which 923 were selected using simple random sampling. The research instrument used was a self-developed questionnaire. The study revealed that motivation is necessary in enhancing job performance of librarians in public university libraries in Nigeria. It concluded that contrary to general belief, motivation level of librarians in university libraries was high. It was recommended that university library management should continue to promote values such as improved employee recognition, good leadership style and improved employees’ motivational programmes that would increase productivity of its workforce.

Keywords:Motivation Productivity Librarian Public university libraries Nigeria.

ARTICLE HISTORY: Received:7 February 2018 Revised:1 March 2018 Accepted:5 March 2018 Published:8 March 2018.

Contribution/ Originality:This study contributes in the existing literature on impact of motivation on the productivity of librarians in the public university libraries. This study uses correlation survey research design. The study originates effect of motivation in boosting and sustaining the productivity of librarians. This study documents motivation and productivity of librarians.

1. INTRODUCTION

Effective motivation of employees serves a crucial factor in determining the general productivity of workers in any organization. It enhances the wholesome growth and development of the organization. In other words, motivation is an essential factor that enhances general well-being of any organization. According to Chaudhary and Sharma (2012 ) motivation is the word derived from the word ‘motive’ which means needs, desires, wants or drives within the persons. It is the process of inspiring people to actions to achieve the goals. In the work goal background, the psychological factors motivating the people’s behaviour can be: Job Satisfaction, Achievement, Work environment, Need for Money and Respect. They posit that one of the most important functions of management is to create enthusiasm amongst the employees to execute in the best of their abilities. Therefore the role of a leader is to arouse interest in presentation of employees in their jobs. The process of motivation consists of three stages: first, a felt need; second, an incentive in which needs have to be aroused and third when needs are satisfied, the satisfaction or achievement of goals. It can be noted here that motivation is an emotional fact that means needs and wants of an employee are tackled by framing an incentive plan.

In the same vein, Ugah (2008 ) outlined some definitions of motivation to include: “the psychological process” that gives behaviour purpose and direction (Kreitner, 1995 ) a predisposition to behave in a purposive manner to achieve specific unmet needs (Buford et al., 1995 ) an internal drive to satisfy an unsatisfied need (Higgins, 1994 ) and the will to achieve (Bedeian, 1993 ). All those inner-striving conditions described as wishes, desires, drives  (Donnelly et al., 1995 ) the way urges, aspirations, drives and needs of human beings direct or control or explain their behaviour (Appleby, 1994 )  some driving force within an individual by which they attempt to achieve some goal in order to fulfill some needs or expectations (Mullins, 1996 ).

The researcher in this study conceptualizes employee motivation as those factors which energize, direct, and sustain human behaviour. It is the drive and stimulation which enables individuals to perform their work in an organization. It indicates the intention of achieving a goal, leading to goal-directed behaviour. Like job satisfaction aforementioned in this study, motivation could be classified into two: intrinsic and extrinsic. Intrinsic motivation consists those in-built factors of an individual worker that energize him or her to carry out a given task in the organization. These include: positive recognition, personal skills and experience, higher degrees acquired to enhance effective service delivery, among others. On the other hand, extrinsic motivation entails those factors or facilities provided by the employer that enable workers in the organization to exert their energy in performing a given task. These include: job security, training and career development, job status, job enrichment, reasonable salaries and wages, conducive work environment, fair employee treatment, good leadership styles, good working condition, among others.

Thus, motivation enhances productivity of workers in any organization especially in the public university libraries as a fairly motivated and satisfied worker is a happy and productive worker. Ademodi and Akintomide (2015 ) posited that a dissatisfied and demotivated worker will either resign his or her appointment from the organization or constitute nuisance to the organization and this will encourage inefficiency and low productivity or commitment in achieving goals and objectives of the organization. It is therefore expedient for every “manager to take initiative in finding out those factors that improve job satisfaction of the subordinates” (Vijayabanu and Swaminathan, 2016 ) in order to boost productivity and enhances retention of the experienced workforce in the organization.

In Nigeria, there are eighty two (82) public universities (National Universities Commission, 2015 ). The list comprises of forty one (41) Federal universities and forty one (41) State owned universities. Each of these public universities have a library manned by a University Librarian working together with other professional librarians to provide relevant educational resources to support the curricula of the university programmes.

1.1. Statement of the Problem

Research has shown that the level of motivation and productivity of library personnel is low (Babalola and Nwalo, 2013 ) although their research productivity is relatively high (Okonedo et al., 2015 ). While many of these studies have been directed towards library use, library collections and library services, few if any have been carried out from the perspective of personal welfare of employees. In other words, studies have not been directed at investigating the relationships between welfare and personal issues such as employee motivation, emotional intelligence and human capital development on one side and job satisfaction and productivity on the other side. The aim of this research is to find out the relationships among these variables; specifically, the extent to which motivation influence the productivity of librarians in the public university libraries in Nigeria.

1.2. Objective of the Study

The general objective of this research work is to investigate the essentiality of motivation in improving the productivity of librarians in Nigerian public university libraries. The specific objectives are to:

  1. find out the level of motivation of librarians in public university libraries in Nigeria;
  2. ascertain the challenging issues affecting the motivation of librarians in the public university libraries in Nigeria.

1.3. Research Questions

The following are the list of research questions slated for this research work:

  1. What is the level of motivation of librarians in public university libraries in Nigeria?
  2. What are the challenging issues affecting the motivation of librarians in the public university libraries in  Nigeria?

1.4. Scope and Delimitation of the Study

The study is limited to librarians in the public (that is, federal and state) universities in Nigeria, while private universities and other tertiary institutions as well as other library personnel were excluded. Besides, the researcher was concerned with those motivating factors that influence the general effectiveness of librarians while those factors that motivate other library personnel and users were excluded.

2. LITERATURE REVIEW

According to Datta and Datta (2013 ) motivation could be regarded as “those factors that energize, direct, and sustain human behaviour towards a particular course of action. It indicates the intention of achieving a goal, leading to goal-directed behaviour” (p.56). Motivation is simply seen as those factors which drive people in putting real effort and energy into what they do. Also, it is an essential factor that affects the job satisfaction and productivity of employees in any organization. Similarly, Pinder (1998 ) described work motivation as the set of internal and external forces that initiate work-related behaviour, and determine its form, direction, intensity and duration. Equally, he contended that an essential feature of this definition is that work motivation is an invisible, internal and hypothetical construct, and that researchers, therefore, have to rely on established theories to guide them in the measurement of observable manifestations of work motivation. Du Toit (1990 ) added that three groups of variables influence work motivation: individual characteristics - such as people’s own interests, values and needs; work characteristics - such as task variety and responsibility; and organizational characteristics - such as its policies, procedures and customs. However, Ayub and Rafif (2011 ) regarded work motivation as the creation of work circumstances that influence workers to perform a certain activity or task of their own free will, in order to reach the goals of the organization, and simultaneously satisfy their own needs. Hence, motivation is an essential factor that is needed by every employee today in any organization especially librarians in the university libraries. This is due to the fact that library is the bedrock and heartbeat of all academic activities in these citadel of higher learning, it helps in meeting the information needs of various information seekers, supports training and learning (curricula) of every university. Hence, the providers of these laudable services should be adequately catered for in order to forestall high turnover rate of the experienced librarians in these universities to their competitors.

In Nigeria today, there are several organizations that compete with the services being rendered by the academic libraries and if urgent steps are not taken these organizations may send librarians out of their laudable profession (Yaya et al., 2014 ). This calls for urgent need to find out different innovative ways on how to motivate librarians so as to enhance their productivity in the university library. Motivating competent employees is imperative to excellent service delivery in libraries; only satisfied and motivated employees can facilitate the library users in a more excellent way (Warraich and Ameen, 2010 ). In the same vein, Ahmed et al. (2010 ) opined that motivational factors play an important role in increasing employee job satisfaction and productivity. Hence, the following intrinsic and extrinsic motivating factors can enhance the job satisfaction and productivity of librarians in the university library:

Job security. According to Ramsey (2014 ) job security is an assurance that an individual will keep his or her job without the risk of becoming unemployed. The author posited that government jobs and jobs in education, healthcare and law enforcement are considered very secure than private sector jobs which are generally believed to offer lower job security. Parveen and Khan (2014 ) attested to Ramsey’s view that job satisfaction in the private sector was comparatively slightly lower than in public sector because of the job insecurity. They considered job security as one of the most important ingredients of job satisfaction among bank employees. This researcher concurs with the submission of these scholars; it implied that the university authority should put in place policies that will ensure the job security of her workers especially the librarians as these would enhance their effective job productivity.

Job enrichment.Business Dictionary (2014 ) defined job enrichment as a job design technique that is a variation on the concept of job enlargement. Job enrichment adds new sources of job satisfaction by increasing the level of responsibility of the employee. Also, Woods (2014 ) referred to job enrichment as a management concept that involves redesigning jobs so that they are more challenging to the employee and have less repetitive work. In the same vein, Riley (2012 ) noted that some job enrichment factors if properly applied would boost employees’ in the organization. Therefore, to improve employee motivation and productivity, jobs should be modified to increase the motivators present for the employee. In order to make this concept more usable in any organization, employers should increase the satisfaction of their workers. This implies that when job enrichment principle is applied in the university library, it motivates librarians to be effective and more efficient in discharging quality services to all the library users in the university community.

Training and career development. Tella et al. (2007 ) and Akanbi (2011 ) noted that staff training is an indispensable strategy for motivating workers. They asserted that no matter how automated an organization may be, high productivity is determined by the level of motivation and the effectiveness of the workforce. The researcher concurs with these authors; hence, there is need for training and career advancement of library workforce especially librarians in this modern era of Information Communication Technology, whereby every university library is automating her collections in order to provide wider and easy access to its educational resources. Also, it gives the librarians opportunities for self-improvement and development to meet the challenges and requirements of new equipment and new techniques of performing information disseminating task.

Payment of reasonable salaries or wages. Generally, people engage in different categories of jobs so as to earn a living, this should be reasonable enough in order to enable them cater for their families and also attend to other financial commitments. To buttress this view, Akintoye (2000 ) revealed that money remains the most significant motivational strategy. As far back as 1911, Frederick Taylor and his scientific management associates described money as the most important factor in motivating the industrial workers to achieve greater productivity. Taylor advocated the establishment of incentive wage systems as a means of stimulating workers to higher performance, commitment, and eventually satisfaction. Banjoko (1996 ) and Sinclair et al. (2005 ) in their studies demonstrated the motivational power of money through the process of job choice. They further explained that money has the power to attract, retain, and motivate individuals towards higher performance. Money possesses significant motivating power in as much as it symbolizes intangible goals like security, power, prestige, and a feeling of accomplishment and success. Thus, librarians should be reasonably remunerated in order to enhance their maximum job performance in the university libraries.

Bonus payment. This refers to extra payment given to employees in the organization over and above their normal salary; and it is given as an incentive in order to motivate them for optimum job performance. The employees must be given adequate rate of bonus. The management of most non educational organizations in Nigeria such as banking sector and other multi-national organizations regularly pay bonus to their workforce at the end of each year. This made workers in such organizations to be more committed to the survival and actualization of the organization set goals and objectives. It could be noted that if such practice is practiced in the educational sector especially in the university library, the morale of its workforce will be boosted and this will equally enhance their productivity.

Fair employee treatment. This is a major hallmark of the “Equity Theory” that was developed by J. Stacey Adams in 1965, while working as a research psychologist with the General Electric Company in Crotonville, New York. He developed and tested an equity theory of motivation. Tyilana (2005 ) observed that, “the essence of the equity theory of motivation is that employees compare their efforts and rewards with those of others in a similar work situations”(p. 20). This researcher concurs with the view of the theorist; he advocates that every employee in any organization especially in the university system should enjoy fair and equitable treatment from the management of such organization. The idea of regarding and treating librarians as second class academic staff as  being practiced by most public universities in Nigeria and giving ‘presidential’ treatment to other faculty members who the  university authority regarded as the core academic staff should be discouraged.

Higher responsibility. According to Adeniji (2011 ) responsibility can be regarded as what must be done to complete a task and the obligation created by the assignment.  The author noted that responsibilities are normally determined by the employer to facilitate achievement of goals. Moreover, the author further reiterated that employers should consider subordinates’ knowledge and skills before assigning them with higher responsibility. However, it can be observed that if employees’ actual responsibilities are not commemorate with the responsibilities delegated, they may feel frustrated because they lacked morale to carry out delegated responsibilities and may experience no job satisfaction. Higher responsibility implies higher degree of task assigned to an individual employee by the superior officer in the organization in order to assess his/her capability. For example, a librarian may be directed by the university librarian to act as a head of department (HOD) in absence of the substantive HOD. This helps in developing his/her managerial skills and equally prepares him/her for future senior positions in the library and in the organization.

Job status. This is the position that an employee occupies in the organization. According to Greenberg and Baron (1995 ) status in any organization could be categorized into either formal or informal. Formal status refers to attempts made to differentiate between the degree of formal and informal authority given to employees by an organization. While informal status could be seen as prestige accorded individuals with certain characteristics that are not formally dictated by the organization. Halloram and Brenton (1987 ) observed that receiving a higher status is a symbol of success. This implies that if a librarian moves from one level of job position to another, he or she sees himself or herself in another level of job hierarchy, feeling honoured, motivated and tending to work harder.

Career advancement opportunity. It is a burning desire of every serious employee in any organization. In support of this assertion, Louie (2013 ) opined that career advancement is one of the most important elements for employee satisfaction and retention at a company. Lipman (2013 ) posited that “clear opportunities for career advancement are powerful employee motivators” (p.1). It implies that in the university system, it is expected and mandatory for every professional librarian to have higher degrees in librarianship so that they can perform better in their professional engagements. 

Good working conditions. Adeniji (2011 ) asserted that “working conditions are created by the interaction of employees with their organizational climate” (p. 64). The author classified the working conditions to include, psychological work conditions and the physical layout of the job. The physical working conditions include the availability of facilities like working tools, modern information technology equipment and appliances to facilitate easy information retrieval and dissemination. Failure to provide these facilities makes it impossible for employees (librarians) to carry out their jobs and thus promote job dissatisfaction. While physical layout of the job refers to the neatness, provision of protective clothing, organization facilities, convenience and attractiveness of the work environment.

Luthans (2002 ) noted that if working conditions are good, for instance – clean and attractive surroundings, employees will find it easier to carry out their jobs. On the other hand, Ali et al. (2013 ) revealed that “poor working condition” would “lead ultimately to decrease in employee productivity”. This implies that if the working conditions are poor like inhabitable office accommodation, dirty, unhealthy and noisy environments, employees will find it difficult to get their work done and thereby experience dissatisfaction and low performance of the workforce. On the other hand, Ali et al. (2013 ) reiterated that “if working conditions are good, productivity increase and there is a positive impact on the delivery of service”. Similarly, Singh and Jain (2013 ) revealed in their study that “employees are highly motivated with good working conditions as they provide a feeling of safety, comfort and motivation. On the contrary, poor working condition brings out a fear of bad health in employees” (p.106). However, it is worrisome to note that the condition of work in most public university libraries is not befitting enough to motivate librarians to excel in their choosing profession.

Work environment. This involves the physical geographical location as well as the immediate surroundings of the workplace, such as a construction site or office building (Business Dictionary, 2014). Poh (2013 ) opined that a positive work environment makes employees feel good about coming to work, and this provides the motivation to sustain them throughout the day. Hence, the author suggested five basic characteristics that could enhance a positive work environment in the organization as: transparent and open communication, work-life balance, training and staff development, recognition for hard work and strong team spirit.

Meanwhile, there are some factors that constitute to hostile work environment in most organizations especially in the university libraries. Heathfield (2014 ) observed that some employees believe that a bad boss, an unpleasant work environment, a rude or lazy co-worker, or the lack of perks, privileges, benefits and recognition can create a hostile work environment. A hostile work environment could be created by a boss or co-worker whose actions, communication, or behaviour affects the employee job in the organization. The author suggested the possible solution to a hostile work environment as: fairness and politeness among workers in the organization. This researcher agrees with the author’s view, that librarians should create conducive work environment for workers under them in order to motivate them for greater job performance.

Organizational leadership styles. Leadership can be regarded as a “management function, which is mostly directed towards people and social interaction, as well as the process of influencing people so that they will achieve the goals of the organization” (Rizi et al., 2013 ). Leadership of any organization is an essential factor that determines the success or failure of such institution in the society. There are different types of leadership styles that were developed by psychologist Kurt Lewin in 1930s, and it provided the foundation of many of the approaches that could be followed thereafter. These include: autocratic leaders, democratic leaders, Laissez-faire leaders, transactional leaders, transformational leaders and participative leaders (Johnson, 2014 ; Mind Tools, 2014 ). Besides, there could be totalitarian leaders in the organization.

Therefore, “employee satisfaction is greatly enhanced by democratic style of leadership. Democratic leaders promote friendship, respect and warm relationship among the employees. On the contrary view, “employees working under authoritarian and dictatorial leaders experienced low level of employee satisfaction” (Singh and Jain, 2013 ). Thus, the researcher concurs with the submission of Singh and Jain, that the University Librarian should display democratic leadership and not autocratic leadership style as is being practiced in most public university libraries.

3. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory was adopted for this study. The theory was developed by a psychologist, Abraham Maslow in 1943. In the theory, he proposed that people are motivated by a predictable five-step hierarchy of needs.

Figure-1. Maslow Hierarchy of Needs Theory

Source: Maslow (1954 )

This theory is related to: productivity and motivation variables of the study. Abraham Maslow in the theory broadly classified human needs into five groups that consist of: physiological, safety, love, esteem, and self-actualization needs. According to Zameer et al. (2014 ) if organizations fulfill basic need, safety need, belonging need, self-esteem need, self-actualization, training and career development needs of their employees then the performance of employee would easily increase.

Abraham Maslow broadly classified human needs into five groups as shown in Figure 1. The different levels of needs on Maslow’s hierarchy are briefly discussed as follows:

Physiological needs. These are biological needs which consist of the need for oxygen, food, gender, sleep, water, and a relatively constant body temperature. They are the strongest needs because if a person were deprived of all needs, it is these physiological ones that would come first in the person's search for satisfaction.

Safety needs. These needs consist of the need for protection, security, law, stability, order and limits. When all physiological needs are met and are no longer controlling thoughts and behaviours, the needs for security can become active. While adults have little awareness of their security needs except in times of emergency or periods of disorganization in the social structure (such as widespread rioting), children often display the signs of insecurity and the need to be safe.

Needs for love, affection and belongingness. When the needs for safety and for physiological well-being are satisfied, the next class of needs for love, affection and belongingness can emerge. Maslow states that people seek to overcome feelings of loneliness and alienation. This involves both giving and receiving love, affection and the sense of belonging.

Self-esteem needs. When the first three classes of needs are satisfied, the needs for esteem can become dominant. These involve needs for both self-esteem and for the esteem a person gets from others. Humans have a need for a stable, firmly based, high level of self-respect, and respect from others. When these needs are satisfied, the person feels self-confident and valuable as a person in the world. When these needs are frustrated, the person feels inferior, weak, helpless and worthless.

Self-actualization needs. When all of the foregoing needs are satisfied, then and only then are the needs for self-actualization activated. Maslow describes self-actualization as a person's need to be and do that which the person was "born to do." "A musician must make music, an artist must paint, and a poet must write." These needs make themselves felt in signs of restlessness. The person feels on edge, tense, lacking something, in short, restless. If a person is hungry, unsafe, not loved or accepted, or lacking self-esteem, it is very easy to know what the person is restless about. However, it is not always clear what a person wants when there is a need for self-actualization.

However, despite the manifold benefits of Maslow theory yet it has the limitation of little evidence to support its hierarchical aspect although it makes sense from an intuitive standpoint. In fact, there is evidence that contradicts the order of needs specified by the model. For example, some cultures appear to place social needs before any others. Maslow's hierarchy also has difficulty explaining cases such as the "starving artist" in which a person neglects lower needs in pursuit of higher ones.

Moreover, when those employees’ needs as spelt out in the Maslow hierarchy of need theory are fairly and adequately met by the university administrators, employees in such institutions of higher learning especially librarians in the university library will be happy discharging their duties, a happy worker is a satisfied and productive worker (Tam and Rigsbee, 2013 ; Oswald et al., 2014 ; Addady, 2015). There is little evidence to suggest that people are motivated to satisfy only one need level at a time, except in situations where there is a conflict between needs. “Even though Maslow's hierarchy lacks scientific support, it is quite well-known and is the first theory of motivation to which many people are exposed. To address some issues in Maslow's theory, Clayton Alderfer developed the ERG theory, a needs-based model that is more consistent with empirical findings” (Arab British Academy for Higher Education, 2014 ).

Finally, the relevance of this theory on the study is that it helps university administrators to know various needs that are applicable to workers especially librarians in the university library and how to meet them in order to improve the productivity of librarians in the university system. This implies that when librarians’ needs are systematically and adequately addressed by the university management, their morale will be boosted and the level of their job satisfaction and productivity in the university library will be greatly increased. Also, it helps librarians to ascertain those needs that have been adequately met by their employers and how those needs that are yet to be attended to will be met in future. This fosters peaceful relationship between university administrators and librarians, and it helps in boosting the morale of librarians in the university library to be more productive.

3.1. Research Methods

The researcher adopted correlation survey research design for the study. This was supported by Cheng (2016 )  who posited that the adopted research design could be used to describe the relationship between two or more variables, as well as how strongly these variables relates to one another. Out of a total population of 1,254 librarians working  in 81 public universities (Federal & State) in Nigeria, a sample size of 923 respondents were selected using simple random sampling technique from 54 public universities that spread across four geopolitical zones in Nigeria. Only 620 copies were retrieved. This gives 67.2% return rate of the administered research instrument for the study. Self-developed questionnaire was used for the study comprising three sections: A, B and C, D. Items in the instrument were gathered from the literature reviewed for the study. The instrument which had a four Likert type scale had items reflecting the various variables treated in the study. Data collected for this study was analysed using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) 22.0 versions. Also, they were analysed using descriptive statistics, especially for research questions 1-2.

4. DATA ANALYSIS AND RESULTS

This portion presents the result of the analysis of collected data. Descriptive and inferential statistics were both employed in the analysis of data while appropriate discussion was done on the findings revealed. Therefore, it is presented under the following sub-headings:

4.1. Presentation of Demographic Information of Respondents

Table-1. Demographic characteristics of respondents

S/N
DEMOGRAPHIC STATEMENT
FREQUENCY
PERCENTAGE
1
Gender
Male
353
56.9
Female
267
43.1
Total
620
100
2
Marital status
Single
114
18.4
Married
455
73.4
Divorced
33
5.3
Widowed
18
2.9
Total
620
100
3
Age of respondents
Below 30
105
16.9
31-40
186
30
41-50
206
33.2
51-60
116
18.7
Above 60
7
1.1
Total
620
100
4
Educational qualification
BSc/BA
92
14.9
BLIS
128
20.6
MSc/MA
49
7.9
MLIS
312
50.3
PhD
39
6.3
Total
620
100
5
Designation
Assistant Librarian
170
27.4
Librarian II
133
21.5
Librarian I
133
21.5
Senior Librarian
81
13.1
Principal Librarian
64
10.3
Deputy University Librarian
27
4.4
University Librarian
12
1.9
Total
620
100
6
Length of service
Below 6 years
213
34.4
6-10 years
156
25.2
11-15 years
108
17.4
16-20years
52
8.4
21-25 years
23
3.7
26-30 years
54
8.7
Above 30 years
14
2.3
Total
620
100

Source: Field survey, 2016

From Table 1, it reveals that (56.9%) of the respondents were male. This implied that there were slightly more men in the librarianship profession than women in Nigeria. It was also revealed that majority of the respondents were married (73.4%). This implies that they would display maturity while discharging their duties to the library users in their various universities. It was revealed that there were more librarians in the age bracket of 41-50 years than any other age group closely followed by those in the age bracket 31-40. This simply meant a larger percentage of the respondents were relatively young and active.

Pertaining to the educational qualifications of the respondents, 50.3% were holders of Masters Degree in Library Science (MLIS) and others 20.6% were holders of Bachelor Degree in Library Science. This means that at least 71% of respondents were professionally qualified librarians. If it is assumed that the 6% who had Ph.D degrees got them from the field of librarianship, then this figure will increase to 77%. This shows that about a quarter (23%) of people working in Nigerian university libraries today hold degrees outside librarianship. This is understandable considering the role that information technology is playing in today’s information provision services, among other details as shown in the Table.

4.2. Data Analysis and Presentation Based on Research Questions

Research Question 1: What is the level of motivation of librarians in public university libraries in Nigeria?

Table-2. Level of employee motivation of the respondents

S/N
STATEMENT
        VHD                                  (%)
HD                              (%)
LD                    (%)
NA          (%)
   M
STD
AM
a.
Intrinsic Motivators
i.
The higher degrees I acquired energize me to be more effective in the library work
347
206
59
8
3.44
0.718
-56
-33.2
-9.5
-1.3
ii.
My job skills enhance my productivity in this information age 
316
257
47
-
3.43
0.631
-51
-41.5
-7.6
iv.
I am being treated in caring and considerate manner by my boss
305
240
70
5
3.36
0.711
-49.2
-38.7
-11.3
-0.8
v.
Positive recognition
286
373
52
3.35
0.695
-46.1
-44
-8.4
9(1.5)
3.36
vi.
Higher responsibility
283
270
61
6
3.34
0.693
-45.6
-43.5
-9.8
-1
vii.
I have a sense of challenge and achievement
293
256
32
39
3.3
0.831
-47.3
-41.3
-5.2
-39
viii.
Opportunity to use my ability
302
222
41
55
3.24
0.922
-48.7
-35.8
-6.6
(8.9
b.
Extrinsic Motivators
i.
Job security
368
176
72
4
3.46
0.721
-59.4
-28.4
-11.6
-0.6
ii.
Provision of healthy work environment enhances my productivity in the library
336
203
64
17
3.38
0.78
-54.2
-32.7
-10.3
-2.7
iii.
Non-recognition of the value of information affects the annual library budget and my productivity.
334
193
79
14
3.37
0.79
-53.9
-31.1
-12.7
-2.3
iv.
Job enrichment
305
237
59
19
3.34
0.773
-49.2
-38.2
-9.5
-3.1
v.
Training and career development
297
236
70
17
3.31
0.718
-47.9
-38.1
-11.3
-2.7
vi.
Availability of operational tools and equipment enhance my productivity in the library.
255
307
53
5
3.31
0.659
-41.1
-49.5
-8.5
-0.8
vii.
Payment of reasonable salaries and wages
285
259
53
23
3.3
0.778
-46
-41.8
-8.5
-3.7
viii.
Office social environment (i.e. peaceful, loving, friendly and trusting)
274
260
70
16
3.28
0.763
-44.2
-41.9
-11.3
-2.6
3.27
ix.
Fair employee treatment
267
271
73
9
3.28
0.726
-43.1
-43.7
-11.8
-1.5
x.
Effective implementation of government laws and policies enhances my productivity as a librarian
291
231
73
25
3.27
0.822
-46.9
-37.3
-11.8
-4
xi.
Organizational leadership styles
281
240
77
22
3.26
0.804
-45.3
-38.7
-12.5
-3.5
xii.
Job status
257
292
48
23
3.26
0.756
-41.5
-47.1
-7.7
-7.7
xiii.
Office physical environment (i.e. clean, provision of air condition, fan, good offices, furniture and fittings)
259
277
73
11
3.26
0.733
-41.8
-44.7
-11.8
-1.8
xiv.
Increase in the level of comfort that I enjoy while performing my duties in the library enhances my productivity.
250
287
75
8
3.26
0.715
-40.3
-46.3
-12.1
-1.3
xv.
Security of lives and properties in the university community enhances my productivity in the university library
292
210
81
37
3.22
0.89
-47.2
-33.9
-13.1
-6
xvi.
Effective job design put in place by my employer enhances my job performance in the library
250
276
68
26
3.21
0.799
-40.3
-44.5
-11
-4.2
xvii.
Good working conditions
250
267
85
18
3.21
0.784
-40.3
-43.1
-13.7
-2.9
xviii.
Poor management has a negative impact on my productivity in the library
250
274
65
31
3.2
0.818
-40.3
-44.2
-10.5
-5
xvix
Career advancement/development opportunity
242
266 (42.9)
105
7
3.2
0.753
-39
-16.9
-1.1
xx
Negative attitude exhibited by most library users affects my productivity.
256
247
96
21
3.19
0.817
-41.3
-39.8
-15.5
-3.4
xxi
Un-conducive work environment provided by my employer affects my productivity.
237
283
79
21
3.19
0.782
-38.2
-45.6
-12.7
-3.4

Source: Field Survey, 2016

Key: VHD = Very High Degree, HD = High Degree, LD = Low Degree, NA = Not At All;  M = Mean, STD = Standard Deviation; AM = Average Mean

Table 2 shows that librarians in Nigerian Universities considered their level of motivation to be very high judging by the average mean score of 3.27 on the scale of 4. Intrinsic motivation appears to have a higher average mean score of 3.36 than extrinsic motivation that has the average mean score of 3.27. It shows that intrinsic motivation is happening more than extrinsic in Nigerian university libraries. It means that librarians were not happy about those motivational factors that affect their fundamental human needs.

Specifically, librarians possessed higher degree qualifications (mean = 3.44) coupled with their job skills (mean = 3.43) and work experience (mean = 3.43) empowered them to be more effective in discharging their duties in the university libraries in this information age. Besides, with extrinsic motivators like job security (mean = 3.46) coupled with the provision of healthy and clean work environment influenced the productivity of librarians in the university library (mean = 3.38). In contrast, some librarians complained that university management were not recognizing the value of organized information resources stocked in the university library and this had greatly affected its annual budget and productivity of the library personnel especially librarians (mean = 3.37).

Research Question 2: What are the challenging issues affecting the motivation of librarians in public university libraries in Nigeria?

Table-3. Challenging issues affecting motivation of the respondents

S/N
STATEMENT
VGE
GE
ME
NE
M
SD
AM
(%)
(%)
(%)
(%)
i.
Non-giving due recognition for services rendered in the university.
317
195
63
45
3.26
0.914
-51.1
-31.5
-10.2
-7.3
ii.
Inadequate funding of library services
315
190
69
46
3.25
0.925
-50.8
-30.6
-11.1
-7.4
iii.
Disparity in the payment of bonuses and allowances
310
189
68
53
3.22
0.951
-50
-30.5
-11
-8.5
iv.
Non-giving due recognition for services rendered in the university.
254
213
99
54
3.08
0.958
-41
-34.4
-16
-8.7
v.
Undemocratic leadership styles.
252
220
94
54
3.08
0.949
-40.6
-35.5
-15.2
-8.7
vi.
Poor working conditions
273
180
103
64
3.07
1.008
-44
-29
-16.6
-10.3
3.09
vii.
Unfair treatment by my boss
250
218
98
54
3.07
0.952
-40.3
-35.2
-15.8
-8.7
viii.
Unfriendly and lazy colleagues or subordinates
232
234
111
43
3.06
0.91
-37.4
-37.7
-17.9
-6.9
ix.
Lack of modern operational tools.
250
206
103
61
3.06
0.981
-40.3
-33.2
-16.6
-9.8
x.
Undue interference in library operations by the authority.
251
205
105
59
3.05
0.977
-40.5
-33.1
-16.9
-9.5
xi.
Lack of job security
238
221
82
79
3
1.014
-38.4
-35.6
-13.2
-12.7
xii.
Inadequate or zero budget allocation for the library
240
207
105
68
3
0.998
-38.7
-33.4
-16.9
-11
xiii.
Not able to use my ability in the library
236
188
141
55
2.98
0.982
-38.1
-30.3
-22.7
-8.9

   Source: Field Survey, 2016

   Key: VGE = Very Great Extent, GE = Great Extent, ME = Medium Extent, NE = No Extent;  M = Mean, STD = Standard Deviation; AM = Average Mean

Table 3 shows that challenging issues facing librarians in Nigerian Universities are considered to be very high judging by the average mean score of 3.09 on the scale of 4. The Table reveals that librarians were not giving due recognition for services rendered in the university (mean = 3.26) ranking as the highest demotivating issue, this is closely followed by inadequate funding of library services(mean = 3.25), then comes the problem of disparity in the payment of bonuses and allowances(mean = 3.22),followed by non-giving due recognition for services rendered in the university (mean = 3.08), closely followed by the problem of undemocratic leadership styles practiced by most university librarians (mean = 3.08), poor working conditions (mean = 3.07) among other demotivating factors prevalent in most public universities in Nigeria as displayed in the Table,

5. DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS

The discussion followed the research questions on which sources supporting effects of motivation on librarians were established through past empirical studies.

Research question one showed that intrinsic motivation appears to have higher average mean score of 3.36 than extrinsic motivation that has the average mean of 3.27. It shows that intrinsic motivation is happening more than extrinsic. It was revealed that higher qualifications which most librarians acquired in librarianship coupled with their work experience and skills empowered them to be more effective in discharging their duties in the university libraries in this information age. It was also revealed by most of them that they were treated in caring and considerate manner by their bosses. These findings agreed with studies earlier conducted by Louie (2013 ) and Lipman (2013 ) who opined that career advancement was one of the most important elements for employee satisfaction and retention at a company and it was a powerful employee motivator.

This implied that in the university system, it is expected and mandatory for every professional librarian to have higher degrees in librarianship so that they can perform better in their professional engagements. Also, the findings corresponded with Equity Theory that was developed by J. Stacey Adams in 1965 cited in Tyilana (2005 ) who concluded that, the essence of the equity theory of motivation is that employees compared their efforts and rewards with those of others in the similar work situations. They should be fairly treated in order to enhance their motivation and be productive in the organization.
Research question two showed that some librarians complained that university management were not recognizing the value of their service rendered in the university and value of organized information resources stocked in the university library, this greatly affected library annual budget and productivity of its personnel especially librarians. The study revealed unequal payment of allowances payable to other academic staff in the university as the highest problem affecting job satisfaction of librarians in most university libraries. This finding confirmed the submission of Nwosu et al. (2013 ) that majority of librarians in Nigeria were being poorly paid and motivated. Unfortunately, some public university authorities maintained segregation administrative system; they were not treating their faculty members equally; there were some allowances paid to lecturers which were regarded by the university management as “core academic staff” but which were not paid to the librarians. It could be noted that with such composition, the morale of librarians in such university would be low and this would as well affected the level of their job satisfaction and productivity. It showed that librarians were not recognized as full academic staff of the university management and they were being treated as second class academic staff in the same university. Hence, this apartheid management style must stop; if not there would be high rate of staff turnover in the public university library.

The result of inadequate recognition of librarians in most Nigerian university system has contradicted the submissions of Russell (2008 ) as well as Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2014 ) who noted in their findings that employee recognition is a motivational element that could be applied in the managerial level to motivate the employees for better job performance and being more innovative. They further stressed that recognition is a positive feedback that enables employees know that they are valued and appreciated by their employers and co-workers. The result also affirmed the study of Maniram (2007 ) who noted that workers who perceived their employers as unfair, incompetent, inconsiderate and selfish will therefore experience a lower level of job satisfaction.

The problem of inadequate funding. It can be observed that in every organization, money is needed for the procurement of raw materials, hiring or employing skilled and unskilled manpower; also, money is needed to purchase tools and modern equipment that would facilitate easy processing of the organizational products and services. Productivity would be affected when there is inadequacy in the funding of activities in the organization. Absenteeism and redundancy and high rate of staff turnover will be recorded. In other words, adequate funding encouraged productivity while inadequate funding slowed down the rate of growth and development of any organization. It implied that in the university library system, money was required to acquire relevant books and non-book educational resources such as periodicals, audio and visual materials, procuring library tools and equipment, computer system and other equipment that would enhance easy processing, accessibility, retrieval and disseminating educational resources needed by the library clienteles. Unfortunately, inadequate funding had been the greatest problem bedeviling the growth and development of educational system especially the university education in Nigeria. Hence, the annual library budget and subvention should be increased to enable it acquire current and relevant resources needed by the library users. Also, all academic staff should be treated equally and fairly by the university authorities in order to enhance their job satisfaction and productivity.

Thus, motivation enhances productivity of workers in any organization especially in the public university libraries as a fairly motivated worker is a happy and productive worker (Tam and Rigsbee, 2013 ; Oswald et al., 2014 ; Addady, 2015 ). In contrary, Ademodi and Akintomide (2015 ) posited that a demotivated and dissatisfied worker will either resign his or her appointment from the organization or constitute nuisance to the organization and this will encourage inefficiency and low productivity or commitment. It is therefore expedient for every “manager to take initiative in finding out those factors that would improve motivation and job satisfaction of the subordinates” (Vijayabanu and Swaminathan, 2016 ) in order to boost productivity and enhances retention of the experienced workforce in the organization.

6. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The study had succeeded in disabusing the earlier submission of low level motivation of library personnel judging from its findings. It was directed towards librarians’ welfare and personal issues such as their motivational factors. The study established that employee motivation will positively affect the productivity of librarians in the Nigerian public university libraries.

Therefore, in the public university institutions, the welfare of librarians should be taken seriously. They should be adequately and fairly motivated so as to enable them discharge their duties effectively. It is expedient for the university authorities to seek and put in place those motivating factors that would enhance productivity of workers in the university community. Hence, the findings and recommendations that emanated from this study would be relevant to our local needs in Nigeria.

Based on the findings and challenges that were revealed in this study, the following recommendations are hereby proffered as the way forward:

First, lower level of extrinsic motivation when compared with intrinsic motivation, suggests that librarians may lack some physiological needs. This was attributed to lack of conducive work environment in most Nigerian public university libraries. The university authorities should provide librarians with a befitting and conducive work environment; their offices should be well furnished with modern day equipment and working tools that would facilitate information service delivery to various information seekers.

Besides, the study equally revealed that librarians in most Nigerian public university libraries were been challenged by non-payment of similar allowances payable to other academic staff as well as inadequate employee recognition and marginalization of librarians by the university authorities. The university authorities should mete out equal treatment to every academic staff and none should be marginalized nor given higher priority over the others. In other words, no academic staff should be treated as a core staff or regarded as a very important personality (VIP) over the others. Hence, they should be paid equal salaries and allowances in line with the government approved salary structures. Also, librarians should be given adequate recognition as custodians and managers of information resources needed in supporting the curricula of each academic programme in the university system.

Funding: This study received no specific financial support. 
Competing Interests: The author declares that there are no conflicts of interests regarding the publication of this paper.

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