Motivational Factors and Effective Service Delivery among University Libraries in South –South, Nigeria

Abstract

This study investigated motivational factors and effective service delivery among university libraries in South –South, Nigeria. The main purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between motivational factors (such as salary, promotion, fringe benefits, good working conditions and staff development) and service delivery of academic librarians among university libraries South-South, Nigeria. The study was guided by eight research questions and eight hypotheses. Ex-post-facto research design was adopted. The population of the study comprises one hundred and seventy five (175) academic librarians working in public University Libraries in South-South, Nigeria. The entire population was used for the study. The instrument used for data collection was structured questionnaire titled “Motivational Factors and Service Delivery among University Libraries Questionnaire (MFSDULQ).. A total of 175 questionnaires were distributed to the respondents and all were returned, four (4) of the returned questionnaires were rejected because they were not completely filled. Therefore, a total of 171 questionnaires (98%) were used for the analysis. Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient (r) was used to answer the research questions, Regression analysis was used to test hypotheses 1 - 5, while Analyses of Variance (ANOVA) was used to test hypotheses 6- 8. All the hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The results of the analysis for the research questions show that, there is a relationship between motivational factors (salary, promotion, fringe benefits, good working condition and staff development) and service delivery of academic librarians among university libraries in South-South,, Nigeria. The result also showed that there is no relationship between gender and motivational factors among academic librarians in university libraries in South-South, Nigeria. Also the result showed that there is no relationship between motivational factors and service delivery among academic librarians in university libraries in South-South, Nigeria base on type of university. The results of the analysis also show that hypotheses 1 – 6 were rejected. This means that there is a significant relationship between motivational factors(salary, promotion, fringe benefits, good working condition and staff development) and service delivery of academic librarians among University Libraries in South –South Nigeria. While hypotheses 7 and 8 were retained. This means that there is no significant difference in gender service delivery due to motivational factors among academic librarians in university libraries in South-South, Nigeria. The result also showed that there is no significant difference in motivational factors and service delivery among university libraries base on type of institution (university) in South-South, Nigeria base on type of university. Based on the findings above, the study recommended, among others, that Management of universities in South – South, Nigeria, should offer an attractive salary and other monetary incentives to their academic librarians. That academic librarians should be given fair and prompt promotional opportunities. The University Management should provide fringe benefits for its academic librarians that could ultimately lead to better individual and organizational performance. The working conditions of the university libraries in the South –South, Nigeria, should be improved in order to make the working environment conducive. The more academic librarians benefit from development programs, the more they would become skillful, confident and above all interested in the library work itself. In conclusion, it is clear that the two variables: motivation and service delivery, are correlates to each other, whereby job performance which is dependent variables is cause by motivational factors such as salary, promotion, fringe benefits, good working conditions, and staff development which are independent variables among the academic librarians in the university libraries in South – South, Nigeria.