Factors Responsible for Job Satisfaction of Librarians in Tertiary Institutions in Nigeria: A View from Bauchi and Adamawa States

This article is published by the Zamfara International Journal of Humanities.

Aliyu Nasiru Muhammad
ABU ALI LIBRARY,
A.S.C.O, E. Azare,
 Bauchi -Nigeria
aliyuazare@gmail.com
08035914440

&

Aishatu Umaru Abdullahi
Library Unit,
Adamawa State Polytechnic, Yola
Adamawa- Nigeria
aishatuabdullahi12@gmail.com
 08030471890 

Abstract

Job satisfaction portrays the level of contentment by an individual as a result of their work and work environment. However, in cases where the working conditions have not gone down well with employees, they tend to exhibit lackadaisical attitude to work. In extreme cases they down tool through one form of industrial actions or the other. The objectives of the study therefore, were to investigate the factors affecting job satisfaction of academic librarians in tertiary institutions of Bauchi and Adamawa states. Descriptive survey method was adopted for this study. The subjects of the study are the academic librarians of tertiary institutions of Bauchi and Adamawa states. The total population of the academic librarians according to the data obtained as at the time of this research was one hundred and twenty-eight (128). This comprises academic librarians from all the institutions of the two states. The study discovered among other things that factors responsible for job satisfaction of librarians and factors affecting job satisfaction were very important aspect to consider in providing favorable working conditions. Therefore, the study recommended that, there is need for Bauchi and Adamawa States tertiary institutions to design and implement a working condition with clear benefits needed to provide conducive environment specifically for librarians, in Adamawa and Bauchi states and Nigeria at large.

Keywords:  Librarian, Academic, Job, Satisfaction, Tertiary, Institutions

Introduction

The management of people at work is an integral part of management process. To understand the critical importance of people in the organization is to recognize that the human element and the organization are synonymous. A well-managed organization usually sees an average worker as the root source of quality and productivity gains. Such organizations do not look to capital investment, but to employees, as the fundamental source of improvement. An organization is effective to the degree to which it achieves its goals. An effective organization will make sure that there is a spirit of cooperation and job satisfaction within the sphere of its influence. In order to make employees more satisfied withtheir jobs in academic libraries, there is the need for strong and effective motivation at the various levels, departments, and sections of the library.

Job satisfaction is seen as the outcome of the worker’s appraisal of the extent to which the work environment fulfills the individual needs (Glumpton 2007) observes that unclear conditions of service led to conflict and low morale among employees. Hestressed further that organization which improved their conditions of service reported immense positive improvement of employee job satisfaction, motivation levels as well as work morale.

Thus, most researches in job-satisfaction are about the demographic impact on the employees' attitude because these personal and contextual variables have been found to have strong relationship with conditions of service and job satisfaction. There are several demographic variations among the workforce, which influence the degrees of satisfaction from pay, work etc. For example, gender, age, education, designation, numbers of years in organization and marital status of the employees have widely been found critical in determining job satisfaction (Sokoya, 2000). This comparative study aims at establishing the relationship between job satisfaction and conditions of service. More importantly, the primary objective of the study is to discover whether no differences exist between the conditions of service of librarians in federal institutions and those in state institutions in Bauchi and Adamawa states and how these differences affect their attitudes to work, most especially their levels of job satisfaction.

 Furthermore, investigation into the factors that makes a person happy and productive at work shows that man’s desire to work goes beyond salary. According to Maslow, Herzberg in Glumpton (2010)  the key to organization efficiency and productivity lies in the social behavior of people at work, their individual orientation, expectations and aspirations to work and their general conditions of work. They contend that if the physical and social environments of the workers are conducive, if their needs and aspirations are taken care of, if the work itself is enjoyable and if they have high value for work, there is no reason why workers would not be happy and at the same time productive.

Statement of the Problem

It is imperative to recognize the factors that affect the library employee as an individual who has significant impact on his or her performance as a service provider. Various criticisms have been leveled against the Nigerian workers on job satisfaction among staff in various institutions and organizations. Many organizations in both the general public and indeed the private sector take into account their workers as an important asset within the organization towards the attainment of the structure goals.

However, the same objectives can only be earned from a satisfied workforce. Thus worker satisfaction is of significance if organizational goals are to be attained. Librarians job satisfaction is related to increased productivity, organizational commitment, lower absence and turnover, and ultimately with increased organizational effectiveness (Logsdon & Ellickson, 2001). However, the same job satisfaction comes about based on the rewards that the librarians receive from the employer. So organizational interest in job satisfaction ought to be driven by humanitarian interests, particularly the notion that workers should be treated with respect and have their psychological and physical well-being maximized (Logsdon & Ellickson, 2001).

Observation shows that this situation occurs due to the lack of employee’s interest in the job because they feel tired when the entire task cannot complete. Even they were absent, they are force to complete their job not only for the present day days but also the previous day. Therefore, employees have to force themselves to work even though she/he is sick. This situation negatively affects the performance and satisfaction of the staff. Furthermore, they are not interested in overtime expecting the task was not urgent to complete. This is because they feel stressful if force themselves to work. As a result, they were fairly satisfied with their jobs since they were did not given enough attention by the head or organization about their problems.

 

Objectives of the Study

The objective of this study is to investigate the factors affecting job satisfaction of academic librarian in tertiary institutions of Bauchi and Adamawa states Nigeria.

Specifically the objectives of this study are to: -

1.       Investigate the demographic implication on job satisfactions of academic librarians in the tertiary institutions.

2.       Investigate environmental and organizational factors affecting job satisfaction of academic librarians in the tertiary institutions.

3.       Find out the working relationship amongacademic librarians on job satisfaction in tertiary institutions.

 

Research Questions

The following research questions were developed to guide the study: -

1.       What are the demographic implications on job satisfaction of academic librarians in the tertiary institutions?

2.       To what extend do the environmental and organizational factors affects job satisfactions of academic librarians in the tertiary institutions?

3.       What is the working relationship among academic librarians on job satisfaction in tertiary institutions?

 

Literature Review

According to Evans (1999), job satisfaction is defined as “a state of mind encompassing all those feelings determined by the extent to which the individual perceives her/his job related needs to being met”. Frazier (2005) stated that there are a few elements that affect job satisfaction, which are extrinsic and intrinsic motivating factors, the quality of supervision and social relationships with the work group. Intrinsic motivation, as explained by Hanaberg (2010) is interest based and extrinsic motivation is compliance based. By improving intrinsic motivation, the employer can take care of the employees’ interest, including their passion, drive, creativity, and energy. Extrinsic motivation, on the other hand, can be improved by giving positive reinforcement to the employees such as raising their salary, giving them compliments, giving them more important tasks and so on.

Across the globe, job satisfaction remains a core area of discussion in the management field and psychology most especially in the studies of organizational behavior and human resource management. Many researchers have paid attention and inclination towards job satisfaction and organizational commitment, factors responsible for job satisfaction of librarians in recent years (Kosteas, 2009). According to (Ramayah, 2001), sound collaborative working conditions explain how employees are buoyant to come to work and how they get enforced to perform their jobs. Better staff welfare increase job satisfaction.

(Robbins, 2008) observes that the importance therefore of relating to job satisfaction is that economically, there will be a reduction in staff turnover, employees strikes and absenteeism, which will save costs for regular recruitment of new staff. He further observes that socially, employees who experience high levels of job satisfaction will remain loyal to their employers and have better relationships with their coworkers, supervisors and management.

Job satisfaction is influenced by many factors such as: the working conditions, work itself, supervision, policy and administration, advancement, compensation, interpersonal relationships, recognition, and empowerment (Castillo & Cano, 2004). Every person has a unique set of goals and may be inspired if he/she believes that: there's a tremendous link between efforts and performance; effective performance will bring about a pleasant reward; the reward will satisfy a vital need; and the desire to fulfil the need is strong enough to take some time meaningful. The motivation to work depends on the relationships between expectancy, instrumentality and valence (Vroom, 2004). Expectancy is a person's certainty that working hard will result in a fulfilling level of job performance. Instrumentality is a worker’s acceptance that successful performance may be observed through rewards and valence is the value someone holds with respect to results.

According to Mullins (2004) Job satisfaction is itself a complex concept and difficult to measure objectively. The level of job satisfaction is affected by a wide range of variables relating to individual, social, cultural, organizational and environmental factors.

Individual Factors: - include personality, education and qualifications, intelligence and abilities, age, marital status, and orientation to work.

Social Factors: - include relationships with co-workers, group working and norms, opportunities for interaction, informal organization.

Cultural Factors: - include underlying attitudes, beliefs and values.

Organizational and Training Factors: - include nature and size, formal structure, personnel policies and procedures, employee relations, nature of the work, technology and work organization, supervision and styles of leadership, management systems working conditions.

Employee training provides opportunities to workers to widen their knowledge and skills for more efficient cooperation and achieve individual development (Jun, Cai, & Shin, 2006). Once staff receive self-development training, the extent of their job satisfaction is higher than those without such training (Saks, 1996). Career development is an organized approach used to accomplish workers’ goals with the business desires of the agency workforce development initiatives. The aim of career development is to; enhance every employee’s current job performance, change people to take advantage of upcoming job chances and fulfil company goals for dynamic and effective personnel. The benefits of worker improvement to an organizational consist of: growing the workers’ morale considering the fact that coaching can improve the employees’ confidence and motivation; lowering value of production through higher and affordable use of material and equipment thereby decreasing and averting waste. In addition, he observed that training of employees leads to a low turnover that comes as result of improved security in the work place (Cole, 2005). Training helps improve change management by growing the understanding and involvement of staff in change management method. Employee development is thus a key element for improved organizational performance; it will increase the level of individual and organizational competences. It allows to reconcile the gap between what ought to be compelled to take place and what's going on among favoured objectives or standards and actual ranges of labour performance. Although many employers still have reservations relating to the value and extent of tangible business returns from coaching, the development of skills has been known as a key think about perfecting competitiveness. Casio (1989, p.35) puts it this way “The economic and technological trends, the pace of innovation, change and development are growing faster year-by-year and as a result, provide clear signals that training and development are so relevant that both organizations and individual stakeholders must give a serious attention to.”

Environmental Factors: - include economic, social, technical and governmental influences.

These different factors all affect the job satisfaction of certain individuals in a given set of circumstances, but not necessarily in others. The various studies of factors affecting job satisfaction all have some validity and represents several related attitudes which are most important characteristics of a job about which people have effective response. These to (Luthans, 2001) are: the work itself, pay, promotion opportunities, supervision and coworkers. Job satisfaction of the librarian naturally depends on the economically, social and cultural conditions in a given country (Ebru, 2005). A librarian who cannot get a sufficient wage will be faced with the problem of maintaining his or her family's life. This problem puts the librarian far from being satisfied. Especially the social facilities (transportation services, and consumer cooperatives –cash boxes) are sufficient because of the economic conditions, low wages, lack of status and social security affect Job satisfaction of the librarian who has an important place in the information society will affect the quality of the service he/she renders. In this respect, the question of how the material and moral element affect the job satisfaction of the librarians gains importance (Ebru, 2005).

However, some literature survey reveals that these factors are also related for job satisfaction of any librarian and has demographic implications, are: pay, work, environment, co-workers (Robbins, 2008). Likewise, adequate equipment, required resources, training opportunities and an equitable workload – all affect employee's job satisfaction (Ellickson & Logsdon, 2001). Other researchers measure job-satisfaction on the basis of “attitude to the job, relations with fellow workers, supervision, organizational policy and support, pay, promotion and advancement, and clienteles (DeVane &Sandy, 2003).”(Luthans, 2005) suggests that work, pay, promotion, supervision and coworkers as the main determinants of job-satisfaction.

Akintoye, (2000) asserts that money remains the foremost important motivational strategy. In 1911, Frederick Taylor and his scientific management associate described money as the most significant think about motivating the industrial staff to attain greater productivity. Taylor advocated the establishment of incentive wage systems as a way of stimulating staff to higher performance, commitment, and eventually satisfaction. Money possesses vital motivating power in as much as a result of it symbolizes intangible goals like security, power, prestige, and a sense of accomplishment and success. Money has the ability to attract, retain, and encourage people towards higher performance. Several managers use finance as a way to reward or punish workers (Banjoko, 1996). This is often done through the method of rewarding workers for higher productivity by encouraging fear of loss of job (premature retirement because of poor performance). The need to be promoted and earn enhanced pay can also encourage workers. The view that pay increases motivation comes from cognitive evaluation theory, which argues that incentive pay incorporates a negative effect on intrinsic motivation, a “crowdingout” result (Gagne & Deci, 2005). Understanding the design effects of incentive systems is vital to understanding of employee motivation and whether or not these incentive systems are connected to fulfilment. The philosophy behind pay-for-performance plans attracts upon reinforcement theory that implies that pay be linked to performance by setting specific targets and then profitable individuals for achieving these targets (Heneman, Fay, & Wang, 2002). Pay fairness is a crucial issue within the design of reward systems. Workers sometimes build equity judgments supported comparisons with others who could even be co-workers, or supported other similarities, similar to organizational status. Lambert, Hogan, & Barton, (2001) found monetary rewards to have a major impact on job satisfaction. Such findings are mostly consistent with the idea that the majority workers are socialized in a society wherever money, benefits, and security are typically asked for and are regularly used to gauge the significance or the worth of an individual.

Thus, the bigger the monetary reward, the less worry workers have regarding their monetary state, thereby improving their influence of their self-worth to the company. Incentive systems are plans within which workers can earn extra compensation in return sure forms of performance. Incentive programs will include any of the following programs; piecework programs which tie a workers earnings to the number of units produced; gainsharing programs which grant additional earnings to employees or work groups for cost reduction ideas; bonus systems which provide managers with lump-sum payments from a special fund based on the financial performance of the organization or a unit; and long term compensation, which gives managers additional income based on stock price performance, earnings per share, or return on equity (Greenberg, 2007).

Work-Environment: Organizational climate is a powerful determinant of both productivity and employee satisfaction. Its influence is so strong that it can outweigh the impact of the quality of frontline leadership (Beach, 1998). Researchers found that job satisfaction of municipal employees depends more on environmental factors rather than personal attributes thereby requiring a good employee-environment fit (Ellickson & Logsdon, 2001). In a research, it was unearthed that poor working conditions affect job satisfaction negatively.

Co-Workers: Organizations are social institutions where every worker has to work with a group of workers and officers. Naturally, if coworkers have good social and working relations, their performance and job satisfaction both are positively affected. Thus, organization's social environment can affect employee job satisfaction, especially coworker interaction (Ellickson & Logsdon, 2001). Some say that increase in feeling of belongingness and coordination among employees and open communication can increase job satisfaction (Naval & Srivastava, 2002). Workers' satisfactions are closely related to their relationships with coworkers and supervisors.

 

Methodology

Descriptive survey method was adopted for this study. The study population is the academic librarians of tertiary institutions of Bauchi and Adamawa states. The total population of the academic librarians according to the data obtained as at the time of this research was one hundred and twenty eight (128). This comprises academic librarians from all the institutions of the two states. Availability sampling technique was used in selecting the sample size for this study. Questionnaire was used as the only instrument for data collection. The questionnaire was in two parts. Section A was on demographic characteristics of respondent and Section B was based on the research questions. A total of ninety seven (97) questionnaires were administered out of which (92) were retrieved from the respondents. This was carried out for a period of two days. The data gathered from the respondents were analyzed through the use of frequency count and simple percentage.

 

Data Analysis and Interpretation

Table 1 revealed the number of respondents according to gender. The analysis shows that the male respondents were more than the female respondents having 78 (84.78%) while the female respondents has 14 (15.22%). This finding therefore, shows that the the male academic librarians are more than the female counterparts.

Table 1: Genderof Respondents

Gender	Frequency	Percentage%
Male	78	84.78%
Female	14	15.22%
Total	92	100%

Source Date, 2022

 

Research Question1: How is the Job Satisfaction Related to their Demographic Variables?

 

Table 2: Job Satisfaction and Demographic Variables

Working Relationships	SA (5)	A (4)	U (3)	D (2)	SD (1)	Total		Remark
Working conditions are clear on influenced relationships with the co-workers, supervisors and subordinates.	60	120	36	8	3	227	3.7	Agree
Working condition portray librarians in the work environment as being role models.	30	108	48	20	2	208	3.4	Agree
Working condition clarify the immediacy of feedback within the workplace.	50	148	12	12	4	226	3.7	Agree

Source: Field data, 2022

               

Table 2:This depicts the relationship between demographic variables and job satisfaction of librarians. All the statements incorporated in the condition of service were agreed by the librarians of both Federal and State tertiary institutions in the two states, as each item statement has a mean value of 3.0 and above. This shows that librarians agreed that there is a relationship between job satisfaction and demographic variables. However, the working environment, co-workers and the feedback of all the work done as demographic variables could always satisfy the librarians on the job.

 

Table 3: Factors Responsible For Job Satisfaction

Factors For Job Satisfaction	SA (5)	A (4)	U (3)	D (2)	SD (1)	Total		Remark
Provision of salaries based on the qualifications	70	132	18	8	4	232	3.8	Agree
Provision of clear opportunities for your promotion	75	144	0	12	4	235	3.9	Agree
Provision of clear benefits (Health insurance etc.)	20	140	18	16	8	202	3.3	Agree
Clear on the recognition to receive for work accomplished.	20	116	30	32	2	200	3.3	Agree

Source: (Field data, 2022)

Note: SA = Strongly Agree, A = Agree, U = Undecided, D = Disagree, SD = Strongly Disagree,  = Mean.

 

Table 3: reveals factors responsible for job satisfaction. It shows that librarians in both state and federal agreed on the factors mentioned in the table 6 are responsible for job satisfaction in both Federal and State tertiary institutions in Bauchi and Adamawa states. Therefore, these factors are very important in satisfying the needs of librarians in those tertiary institutions and can make them stay in the job. However, each factor has mean value which greater than 3.0 of cutting mark of 5-point scale used in the study, i.e. (5+4+3+2+1 = 15/5 = 3.0).

 

 

Discussion of Findings

Therefore, the study on the factors responsible for job satisfaction corresponds with (Adeyinka, Ayeni and Popoola, 2007) who reported that motivation improves workers' performance and job satisfaction. The result also agrees with (Chess, 2004), reported that certain factors contribute to the prediction of job satisfaction. However, on factors hindering job satisfaction of academic librarians as reported in this study may be as a result of the fact that librarians are not highly motivated by their institutions deeply held values and beliefs regarding the development of a shared vision as put forward by (Brown and Shepherd, 2007). (Tang and LiPing, 2009) reported that a relationship exists between working environment and job satisfaction, and (Woer, 2008) found out that organizational structure relate to job satisfaction, which both support this result. Furthermore, Stokes, Riger, and Sullivan's (2005) reported that perceived motivation relates to job satisfaction and even intention to stay with the institution corroborates with this present result.

The second result obtained in this study is that, there is relationship between job satisfaction and demographic variables of academic librarians. Williams in Nwagu (2007) reported that motivation potential is linked to five core characteristics that affect three psychological states essential to internal work motivation and positive work outcome. That idea complements the present findings. Similarly, the finding by (Colvin, 2008) that financial incentives increase productivity, corroborates with this result. Librarians have the same perceived work motivation if they are given the work environment and incentives that they really need and deserve. The issue of librarians is very essential to library operations and their motivation and commitment are also essential. Many libraries, therefore, take the same approach to motivation for all of their employees, irrespective of status and qualifications. Hence, the non-significant difference in their perception of work motivation is probably connected with this issue.

Summary of the Major Findings

Based on the presentation, analysis and discussion of results generated from the sampled population of the study, the summary of the major findings are outlined as follows: -

 

i.                     Academic librarians agreed with all the factors responsible for job satisfaction in their institutions, they were specific about issues on their states pertaining to their general working conditions as well as on matters pertaining to their being clarity on recognition to be received for work accomplished and salaries based on qualifications.

ii.                   The findings also reveal that the librarians agreed on the stated factors that hinder job satisfaction of librarians if they are not properly addressed.

iii.                 Demographic variables such as pay, promotion, work environment, work/job, coworker, responsibility, supervision etc. are highly related to job satisfaction the librarians are receiving.

 

 

Conclusion and Recommendation

From the findings of the study, it was concluded that the factors responsible for job satisfaction and demographic factors are very important in providing favourable and conducive working environments of academic librarians in Bauchi and Adamawa states tertiary institutions. On the other hand, if an institution fails to address the factors that affects job satisfaction, it is indeed providing unfavourable and unconducive working environments to academic librarians. We can therefore conclude that strict adherence to staff welfare will promote job satisfaction.

 

Based on the findings of the study the following recommendations are made:

 

i.                     There is the need for the provision of conducive working environments which will enable librarians in Bauchi and Adamawa states tertiary institutionsto be more innovative and creative, thus aligning their goals to those of the librarians in federal tertiary institutions and ensuring these goals are met successfully.

ii.                   There is the need to provide clear opportunities for staff development which will enhance the level of satisfaction of librarians and ensure their growth and development within the institutions.

iii.                 There is the need to provide lucrative pay, promotion opportunities, over time compensations and fringe benefits, adequate equipment, required resources to ensure demographic factors that can influence academic librarians to remain in institutions.

 

 

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