Libraries at University of Nebraska-Lincoln

 

Date of this Version

Summer 2019

Abstract

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Visits to some university libraries, backed by evidence from previous research, reveal that librarians experience low levels commitment as reflected in the high rates of turnover and absenteeism. This seems prevalent at a time Nigeria as a country is grappling with harsh economic realities, when increased commitment and extra effort are being expected of all employees to boost performance and improve service delivery. Thus, the pursuit of a deeper understanding of the means by which commitment develops is critical and warrants empirical investigation. This study, therefore, is to determine the levels of organisational commitment among librarians in university libraries in South-South, Nigeria.

Methodology: The study adopted descriptive survey design. The sample sizecomprised of the entire population of professional librarians in the twelve federal and state-owned university libraries located in the six states that make up the South-South Geo-political Zone of Nigeria.Data was analysed using descriptive statistics of mean and standard deviation.

Results:The analysis of results revealed that librarians in the study area had a cluster means of 3.55 with a standard deviation of 0.39 on their level of affective commitment, which indicate very high affective commitment. The results also showed that librarians had a cluster mean of 3.29 with a standard deviation of 0.34 on their level of normative commitment, which indicate high normative commitment. .The librarians also had a cluster mean of 2.43 with a standard deviation of 0.31 on their level of continuance commitment, which indicated low continuance commitment. The overall mean of 3.29 with a standard deviation of 0.31 obtained from the data analysis that answered the research questions 1, 2 and 3 is an indication that librarians in the study area exhibit high levels of organisational commitment to their organisations.

Conclusion: This study reveals the fact that organisational commitment is allied with whether and for what reasons employees stay with their organisation, it is important that greater attention be paid to both human and organisational factors in the Nigerianuniversity library environment which may affect the commitment of librarians. Also, since the high rates of job mobility, turnover, transfers and reduced effort expenditure are associated with low commitment, concerted efforts should be made to foster higher levels of commitment amongst library employees in order to enhance staff loyalty, retention and utilisation.

Recommendations: Based on the findings of the study, it is recommended that Nigerian University Management should ensure that they forge closer ties between library employees and their employing organisations based on genuine affiliation and internalisation of the goals and values of the organization, as the library employee tends to work with exceptional enthusiasm, and is often willing to make great personal sacrifices towards the success of the organization if he or she perceives that the goals and values of the organisation are compatible with his or her own. Also management of university libraries should also endeavour to fulfill the physiological, psychological and social needs of their employees. If the values and objectives are evident, and congruent with individual employees’ needs and expectations, they will be more satisfied as this will result in more commitment , and less likelihood of staff to leaving their organisation in search of better alternatives.

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