ABSTRACT
Digital revolution has brought about employee mobility resulting in increased turnover intentions which is now regarded as a global challenge; and universities are not excluded. Employees seemed dissatisfied with their job; and many stayed due to non availability of alternatives. Dissatisfaction leads to turnover intentions which have become a topical issue and provides an estimation of employees’ self-assessments on whether they might quit in the near future. Understanding the reasons why employees quit might be a precursor to high turnover intentions. Turnover intentions of librarians have become a human resource problem in private universities because of their inability to retain librarians they nurtured due to ready availability of job alternatives. This study investigated the influence of Leadership Style (LS), Emotional Intelligence (EI) and Empowerment of Librarians (EL) on Turnover Intentions (TI) in the private universities in South-West and South-South, Nigeria.
The survey research design was adopted. A total of 200 librarians from selected private universities in South-West and South-South, Nigeria constituted the target population for the study. Purposive sampling technique was used to select twenty-seven out of the thirty-eight private universities in South-West and South-South, Nigeria. Total enumeration was used. The instrumentfor data collection was a modified and validated questionnaire. Cronbach’s alpha reliability coefficients for the variables ranged between 0.69 and 0.97. A response rate of 85% was recorded for the 200 copies of the questionnaire administered. Data were analysed using descriptive and inferential (Pearson Product Moment Correlation and multiple regression) statistics.
The findings indicated that there was a significant correlation between LS (r=0.40, p<0 .05="" ei="" r="0.24,<i">p
<0 .05="" el="" r="0.18, <i">P<0 .05="" a="" and="" dj.="" had="" influence="" ls="" on="" r="" significant="" sup="" ti.="" ti="">2=0.292;F(3,166)= 23.974;P<0 .05="" a="" dj.r="" ei="" had="" influence="" on="" significant="" sup="" ti="">2= 0.106;F(3,166)=7.586;P<0 .05="" a="" also="" dj.r="" el="" had="" influence="" on="" significant="" sup="" ti="">2=0.041; F(2,167)=4.525; p<0 .05="" a="" and="" combined="" dj.r="" ei="" el="" had="" influence="" ls="" on="" sup="" ti="">2= 0.149; (F(8,161)=10.764;P<0 .05="" o:p="">
The study concluded that the appropriateness of leadership style and leadership behaviour remain the secret tool in understanding employees’ behaviour, attitude and retention. The engagement and retention of Librarians is highly dependent on leaders with a critical mass of emotional intelligence and empowering behaviours. It was therefore recommended that continuous leadership trainings with emphasis onemotional intelligence and empowering behaviour should be conducted in conjunction with relevant stakeholders. Curriculum in library schools should integrate emotional intelligence skills while exit surveys should be conducted for quitting librarians to identify reasons for leaving.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
Information society has brought about some developments which are dictating the direction of the future of humanity. These developments include globalization, the prominence of the knowledge economy and the permeating effect of information communications technology. These three developments have combined to exert increased importance on the human capital which, more than ever, has the freedom to decide where to work and whom to work for. One significant attribute of the knowledge society is globalization which has also brought more visibility and competitiveness among organizations resulting in employee mobility. Employee mobility has the resultant effect of high employee turnover and turnover intentions for every organization, and more especially for organizations that do not embrace best management and human resource practices. In the higher education sector, universities have become “open global markets” where only the best will ultimately survive and retain good quality staff, whose demand often out-strips the supply; hence, the need to pay serious attention to staff turnover and the intent. The Human Development Report: Work for Human Development (2015) states pointedly that the fast changing world of work, driven by globalization of work and digital revolution, presents opportunities, but at the same time poses risks; affirming that the benefits of this evolving new world of work is not evenly distributed and there are winners and losers.
Tettey (2006) argues that a well-developed human capital base is not only an asset that enables countries to promote forward-looking ideas, initiate and guide action and build successes; it also makes those countries attractive destinations for investment and intellectual collaboration, both of which if managed appropriately will lead to positive returns and transformation. This also applies to every organization, and the transformation of an organization is a leadership responsibility. The impact of leadership in every organization cannot be over emphasized. Leadership as a concept for centuries has continued to attract the attention of philosophers, academics, researchers, human resource practitioners, organizations and countries. Stodgill(1974) affirms that there are many definitions of leadership as there are persons who have attempted to define the concept.
Bennis(1959:259) summarizes this when he says:
Always, it seems, the concept of leadership eludes us or turns up in another form or taunts us again with its slipperiness and complexity so that we have invented an endless proliferation of terms to deal with it… and still the concept is not sufficiently defined.
This study defines leadership as the ability to manage uncertainty, conflict, adversity, inadequacy, abundance, human and physical capital under changing circumstances with appropriate tenacity in harnessing and turning environmental information into knowledge in arriving at the proposed goal to the benefit of group members and organization. The consistent pattern of action or attitude which a leader exhibits over a time is regarded as the leadership style. Leadership style (LS) is regarded as a form of cross situational behaviour consistently exhibited by a leader, which highlights the manner inwhich a leader interacts with his/her subordinates, contemporaries, outsiders and stakeholders. Leadership style also depicts the way or form in which a leader influences employees decision to be hired, decision to be engaged, committed and remain with the institution in spite of other alternatives; the way structural changes are managed, reducing administrative demands, ensuring quality reviews, without compromising high standard.
The changing demographics of labour market, enduring skills shortages and employees’ demand for work-life balance have created a so-called “war for talent”(CIPD 2006) This “war” implies that organizations must seek to improve their strategies, policies as well as practices for the attraction, development, deployment and retention of talents vital for their sustenance and success. This is also applicable to private university libraries which seemingly have challenges with staff retention. The CIPD/Hays Resourcing and Talent Planning Survey (2013) reports that the proportion of employers reporting a war for talent has risen from 20% in 2009 to 62% in 2013; and six in ten organizations had experienced difficulties filling vacancies. Leadership needs to realize more than ever that superior talent is increasingly recognized and accepted as the prime source of competitive advantage. The supremacy of the employees, the rapidly changing business environment and globalization have brought about the growing need for globally aware managers and professionals with multi-functional fluency, technological literacy, entrepreneurial skills and the ability to operate in different cultures, structures and markets. This is a function of leadership who is expected to function effectively in trans-border as well as domestic contexts. This assertion demands the need for a careful selection, grooming and development of leaders who can operate in a globalised environment.
Leadership capability has to do with the process which is employed to hire qualified employees and equally retain them through the establishment and practice of a culture of quality work-life, good work ergonomics, motivated work climate as well as best practices in talent management and human resources and all these have to do with leadership style. This study in determining the effect of leadership style on turnover intention of librarians in private university libraries in South-West and South-South geopolitical zones of Nigeria, has adopted a definite leadership style which is the Full Range Leadership Model(FRLM) developed by Avolio and Bass(1994). The Full Range Leadership Model (FRLM) consists of a combination of three styles of leadership as a continuum. These are the Transformational Leadership style, Transactional Leadership style and Passive Avoidant Leadership style. Researchers in the field of leadership believe leaders adopt more than one leadership style, hence the Full Range Leadership style seems to be an answer to addressing the inadequacies inherent in adopting a single leadership style.
The Full Range Leadership Model(FRLM) is a well-researched model in the higher education sector. Studies by Bodla and Nawaz (2010) ; Gozukara (2016) and Morris (2016) agree on the effectiveness of FRLM in colleges and universities. The FRLM in its current form comprises nine measurable elements which are combined to form the basis on which leadership style; behavior and effectiveness are scaled. The FRLM is organized around two axes. The first being the degree of activity and the second is the degree of effectiveness of leadership. The activity axis rates the behavior pattern of the leader in terms of how active or passive in relating to others and towards the aims and goals of the organization and in this study, private university libraries and the university communities at large. The activity axis concerns the leader’s level of engagement and involvement in the leadership process.
On the other hand, the effectiveness axis has to do with the effect the specific leadership style has on the employees, group and organizational outcome, such as performance, internal motivation and wellbeing, and willingness to remain on the job. Ultimately, transformational leadership is based on intrinsic or autonomous motivation according to Bono and Judge (2003). This means motivation of group members is basic, inherent, ingrained, inseparable, and ineffaceable to transformational leadership style. Transformational leadership provides clear
vision and mission, inspires self-esteem in employees wherein the leader gains trust and respect through charisma. The Transactional Leadership style transacts rewardas a leader/member exchange, with subordinates performing tasks as planned. Employees are rewarded in line with stated standards inexchange for accomplishments according to Sosik and Jung(2010). The rewards also include punitive measures in cases where subordinates do not live up to expectation. Transactional leadership style could be termed as a “Quid pro quo” style - meaning an exchange of goods or services, where one transfer is contingent upon the other. The Passive Avoidant/Laissez-faire style allows the system to run itself while the leader only intervenes occasionally. Some consider it an ineffective off-hand style, however it has its usefulness under some specific organizational clime.The other part of the style is the Leadership By Exception (passive) wherein the leader is reactionary and only intervenes when things are going wrong. This style of leadership may be sparingly applied in systems where employees are expected to be knowledgeable workers, self-motivated, and are able to workindependently with little or no supervision to produce result; especially in a manufacturing outfit where schedules are defined and specific.
University library leadership and the style of leadership are essential to the library’s effectiveness as a central academic organ. Hersberger (1989) argues that an important aspect of a successful library leadership is the ability to recognize what can be offered to “followers” that might “engage” or “satisfy” their “motives”. The FRLMfulfillsthis sinceit is not about a single pattern of behavior, but the dominantpattern which could be interchanged with others becomes the style. Laissez may crop up at times, but it is the consistent combination of transformation and transactional styles that make the FRLM quite attractive, and suitable for private university libraries in South-West and South-South, Nigeria. According to a Conference board study of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), the recruitment and retention of talented employees is the number one business concern of Chief Executives in Europe. It is therefore generally believed that leaders and their skills in evolving a healthy work-place environment or culture that speaks to employees in a way that encourages them to feel valued and willing to stay on the job, remains a secret weapon in preventing or ameliorating turnover and TI. This presupposes the ability of leadership to exhibit and apply EI skills which can negate turnover intentions of librarians who are the subject of this study. This could ordinarily be interpreted as making the work environment employee-centred.
Today’s workforce and work environment are becoming increasingly diverse and employees are seeking for opportunities to learn and enhance their skills as well as having an open valve for imagination, expression and creativity, in order to add value to their organizations. It follows therefore that a leader’s interest in the employees’ well-being, a workplace culture which promotes psychological conditions which give meaning to work, making it safe, and enriched, with supportive supervisors and good organizational citizenship are all that the work environment requires. The recognition of these values by leaders will result in greater employee loyalty and lower turnover intentions. All these attributes require a critical mass of emotional intelligence. EI involves a combination of competencies which allow a person to be aware of, to understand, and to be in control of his or her emotions, to recognize and understand the emotions of others, and to use this knowledge to foster success for self, others, and organization. Emotional Intelligence is an intangible trait in every being which affects how we manage behaviour, interpret others’ feelings, navigate social complexities and make decisions which affect others as well as personal decisions.
Emotion is a significant and an influential component of personality and the effective management of emotion remains an important aspect of human adjustment to life situations; while some even consider it as an aspect of mental health. People with highly developed EI are said to be more successful in the workplace because they understand their emotions and why they behave the way they do. Goleman (2006) defines EI as the habitual practice of using emotional information from self and others, further integrated with our thinking and using this in arriving at informed decision making, problem solving, helping to get what is required or sought after from the immediate situation and life. One of the most applied constructs which EI has been associated with is that of leadership; and leadership literature equally suggests that effective leaders must possess a critical mass of EI. The perception of the leader’s EI is said to significantly affect subordinates’ turnover intentions. Goleman (2001) posits that leaders high in EI are key to organizational success, linking aspects of EI to success in the sense of accuracy about performance feedback and aptness of rewards; the clarity people have about mission and values; and finally the level of commitment to a common purpose. Each factor has a measurable effect on the “climate” of the organization. All these are based on level of the emotional intelligence of business.
McAdam and McClelland (2002) identify six key factors which could influence an organization’s work environment: its flexibility– that is how free the employees feel to innovate, unencumbered by red-tape; their sense of responsibility to the organization; the level of standard that people set; the sense of accuracy about performance feedback and aptness of reward; the clarity people have about mission and values; and finally the level of commitment to a common purpose. Each factor has a measurable effect on the “climate” of the organization. All these are based on the level of emotional intelligence of leaders which this study believes is necessary for university library leadership. Emotional Intelligence consists of three main models; the ability EI model, the trait EI model, and the mixed EI model. Emotional intelligence is made up of six core skills that pair up under three Primary Competencies – Personal Competence – self regulation and self awareness; Social Competence – relationship management and social awareness; and Empathy- affective and cognitive.
Gottman (2002) argues that in the last few decades, science has discovered more facts about the role which emotions play in human lives. He claims researchers have found that even more than IQ, emotional awareness and abilities to handle feelings will determine success and happiness in all walks of life. Emotional Intelligent leaders inspire employees to have a sense of self-actualization, apart from meeting the goals of the organization and this feeling often has to do with the need for recognition as employees are value-driven. This idea is driven home by the Global Workforce Study Report 2014.
The Global Work Force Study Report reveals that after decades of emphasizing the responsibility of the employeesto know the customers’ needs and meet them; many employees have now started to expect the same from their employers, to know employees’ needs and meet them. The Global Workforce Study Report clearly points to the importance of emotional intelligence in leadership as companies where employees rate their leaders high on EI have more engaged employees. It also raised the need to handle the concerns of the employees painstakingly; emphasizing the importance of empowering employees. It stressed theimpact of effective leadership on employees’ commitment, productivity and engagement which will result in low turnover intentions.
Emotionally intelligent leaders, naturally empower the employees. Ultimately, an organization’s concern for the welfare, work environment and the needs of employees remain a great response to empowering employees and initiating effort to retain them. Although empowerment within organization is aimed at a systemic change, organizational leadership now recognize that, this is what the global environment requires in order to retain good employees. The changing nature of the relationship of employees to organization is pushing organizational leaders to rethink traditional power structures. As individuals redefine the definition of ownership and capital within the knowledge economy, “harnessing the capabilities and commitment of knowledge workers (which librarians in private universities are) is arguably the central management challenge of our time; unfortunately it is a challenge that has not yet been met” (Maneville and Ober, 2003:48). Employee empowerment is no longer about how much power leaders are willing to relinquish, it is about redefining the role of employees in issues of “ownership” and “power” as well as an internal understanding within and among employees the importance of empowerment. The foregoing stress the critical nature of librarians’ empowerment in private university libraries.
Empowerment is a management technique aimed at increased employee productivity, engagement and commitment for the optimum release and use of individual and group abilities in order to achieve organizational goals without compromising group members’ aspirations and individual goals. It remains a development and retention strategy for organizational competitive edge. Empowerment is a process of giving authority to the employees to make necessary decisions on their own about their day to day activities (Haas, 2010). In a globalised world, turnoverintentions and turnover cost have negative impact on organizations which ultimately make them less competitive, hence the need to expedite the process of providing quick services to clients. He argues that if responses are delayed, this may result into loss of clients and employees who are not empowered, hence the need to come up with strategic policies and human resource best practices to ameliorate turnover and turnover intentions. Empowerment involves employees in decision-making, leaving them open to a level of control that gives the employees confidence and recognition for their talent, skills, knowledge and experience, allowing decision-taking with full support while the organization accepts gaps for mistakes. It is believed that to empower the human resource means the creation of a required collection of capacity in staff which enables them to create added value in organization and role playing responsibilities with efficiency and responsibility.
According to Peterson (2014), rapid change in functional work domains causes organizations to dispense traditional hierarchical position-based leadership models in order to implement structures where decision-making authority is stimulated at lower ranks within an organization. Empowerment is practiced by leaders when they provide employees with development opportunities to establish self-leadership skills, which could assist in the facilitation of positive response to new roles and responsibilities (Bester, Stander and van Zyl, 2015). Invariably, empowerment naturally releases the human energy that makes the employees to assume responsibility and take decisions for the benefit of the group members and the organization. Empowered employees exhibit a high level of job satisfaction, identify problems and also proffer solutions. Wagner and Harter(2006) claim that employee empowerment leads to higher level of collaboration across cadres of employees, increase interdependence and trust which often reduce cost due to knowledge sharing.
In organizations where employees are empowered, structures and culture must be geared towards supporting it. This means that remuneration practices must take the expectation of individual risk-taking and decision-making into account. Conger and Kanungo (1988) were among the first to apply motivational approach to empowerment as the psychological motivation of employees in the workplace. While some may take empowerment as a “sham”, others may approach it intricately. In spite of dissenting views of the managerial theorists and the critical perspective theorist on the process to empowerment the two schools believe in the need for employee empowerment as a tool towards staff retention and improved productivity. In addition, different factors influence an employee’s decision to stay or leave an organization. The Expectancy Theory (Lawler, 1994) stipulates that employees take up employment with expectations and values, which if met translate to their remaining a member, while they are likely to leave if their expectations are not met. The Expectancy Theory framework consists of structural and psychological dimensions. The structural expectations include autonomy, support for innovation and appropriate levels and forms of communication.
The importance of autonomy which is empowerment must be stressed as a determining variable in employee retention. Empowerment gives the employee the latitude to be fully involved in how work is done, providing the employee independence, support for safe mistakes and input into decision making in an unencumbered manner. Apart from these stated facts, appropriate levels and forms of communication among the network of employees in an organization that has a culture of empowerment is indispensable. Effective communication assists in providing a sense of ownership, belonging, appreciation, involvement, and, commitment on the part of employees. Inthe absence of the right communication framework, is a gap in participatory interaction, both of which could compel employees to become dissatisfied, with the intention to leave. These are issues requiring attention in studying the level of empowerment of librarians in private universities in South-West and South-South,Nigeria.
Librarians are expected to support, enhance and facilitate teaching, research, studying and learning. These call for the need for private university libraries to develop policies which can influence librarians’ satisfaction and retention, by turning the libraries into settings where librarians exercise greater influence and control over their work. The library leadership will become more effective if they provide a mentoring system with an appropriate leadership structure which provides support for librarians; there is every likelihood that turnover intentions ratio in private university libraries will remain low. However, the leadership structure in university libraries is hierarchical and organizations are doing away with hierarchical structures as they do not adequately support empowerment according to Peterson (2014).
Van Dierendonck and Dijkstra (2012) argue that for empowerment to succeed, decision-makers need to be empowered by leaders. The other part of the retention empowerment framework is the psychological dimension of employees’ expectations. This focuses on issues like morale, intrinsic satisfaction which employees experience at work for performing their duties. A school of thought believes that the psychological approach seems less effective, and whichever way one looks at it; none can exist exclusive of the other. A structural inadequacy can manifest in the psychological clime leading to serious dissatisfaction which can in turn destroy any structural transformation. Ultimately, the ideal approach to ameliorate turnover intentions of employees will be to explore both the structural and psychological approaches of employees’ empowerment and work life-balance in order to put in place an efficient and effective intervention.
Furthermore, many other factors like the size and reputation of organization, psychological contract, possibility of exerting an influence on organizational matters havebeen found to be responsible for why some employees leave employment according to Perez (2008) Each of the variables used in arriving at the causes ofturnoverintentions is a part of a larger framework. This study is concerned with the influence of leadership style, emotional intelligence of leaders and the level of empowerment of librarians on turnover intentions in the study area. Emotional intelligence and empowerment are regarded as leadership tool and technique. Developmental psychologists believe that what differentiates leaders is not so much their technique, philosophy, personality or management style per se; but their internal “action logics”. Trivett (2014) says action logics refer to the ability to inquire into ones actions with the purpose of increasing effectiveness. It makes individual self-aware, creative, with more sustainable decision-making ability and being conscious of dangers and opportunities. Action logics provide a way of understanding how people tend to interpret events and how they are likely to act. It is how a leader interprets the environment,and howthe leader reacts when his/her power or safety or that of the employees or the organization is challenged.
Internal “action logics” specifically means the ability of a leader to put emotional skills into action to resolve day to day problems in the work environment. This highlights a manager’s ability to navigate social complexities, understandingthe feelings of others, and to correctly interpret environmental information in managing his or her own behavior. The leader’s attitude,behavior and style either empower or disempower employees. The leader’s style may exert influence that expands the capabilities ofindividualswithin the team and the teamas a group and this can help to improve performance as well as ensuring continuous improvement in the organization.This can invariably lead to staff retention and lower turnover intentions. On the other hand, a leader’s negative or inappropriate style may demoralize, and alienate employees, stiffen productivity and trigger turnover intentions. However, there is an acceptable level of turnover which every organization may experience. However, a high turnover ratio generally has serious consequences on organizations and their employees. For organizations, there is the separation cost, replacement cost and training cost for the new entrants as opined by (Perez, 2008). There is also the possibility of operational disruption within the organization especially in organizations where there is interdependence of work roles as obtainable in university libraries.
On the part of employees the loss of key members especially in an organization that is regarded as being mainly interdependent and specialized may affect the ability of the remaining employees to fulfill their work task. It is assumed that the higher the level of position to be filled the greater the potential for disruption. Another consequence of turnover is the demoralization of organizational membership. This has to do with the attitudes of the remaining members, and here lies the issue of intentions. An employee’s decision to quit may provoke a reflective sentiment among the remaining members who may start to ponder on the validity of their motivation to remain. This presupposes that turnover can trigger turnover intentions of existing staff and additional turnover by stimulating deterioration in attitudes towards the organization. The perceived reason for quitting is regarded as one essential factor which could disrupt organizational equilibrium. This takes a more serious dimension if the reasons have to do with organizational culture or dimensions such as organizational injustice, lack of supervisory support and psychological breach of contract. Since turnover intention is a precursor to actual turnover, it is of great importance to investigate and predetermine the intent and take remedial step to stem turnover.
The Human Development Report (2015) posits that strategies to ensure workers’ well-being must focus on rights, benefits, social protection and inequalities. It stressed that guaranteeing rights and benefits of workers is at the heart of strengthening the positive link between work and human development; concluding that the quality of work is an important dimension in ensuring that work enhances human development. The need to make work meaningful to employees is not tied to technological advancement, nor globalization, or information communications technology per se. The Human Development Report is equally not saying a new thing but to affirm the important role of the employees had hitherto been committed to memory, but must now be committed to life. Markham (nd) had earlier posited this view when he said that in vain we build the city if we do not first build the man. This implies that a strong employee base must be the first to be built up above every other resource.
Leadership’s positive response to the employees’ welfare is generally believed to be a strong response towards empowering employees and also understanding their behaviours and attitudes. Invariably, poor leadership often leads to failure to empower librarians which invariably may lead to high turnover intentions. The need to adopt flattened leadershipstructureas opposed to the hierarchical structure has often been recommended for academic libraries. There is also the need to redefine “power”, “authority” and “ownership” as they affect librarians in academic libraries. This means allowing librarians to have control over their jobs, distributing power down the ranks and taking ownership of the job and job process. The leadership should understand librarians and other employees, and being able to assess them in a two dimensional ways of “competence” and “commitment”. This entails knowing which employee to nurture, groom and invest in as competent and committed, key influencers and future leaders who are likely to think less of quitting their jobs.
Ultimately, employees remain the hub of every organization, hence the 21st century is described as the “Century of Humanity”. Tettey (2006) driving home this view, says the most tangible cost, and one that is most difficult to estimate, is losing future leaders. This means that if private universities fail to recruit the best minds, and also find it difficult to retain them, the loss will not only negatively affect students, staff and individual private universities, but will equally translate into a burden and a cost to be borne by the entire university system as well as individuals in the current and future generations. On the other hand if private universities turn their libraries’ work environment into that which could enhance human development, expand productivity, allowing a remunerative and satisfying quality work opportunities, which could enhance librarians’ skills, potentials and well-being, there might be the likelihood of a notable reduction in turnover intentions.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
Turnover intentions seem to have become a human resource problem in private university libraries because of their inability to retain many of the librarians whom they have nurtured because of ready availability of job alternatives. Since intentions are likely to influence behaviour and the actual performance of the intent, interventions which can identify and target factors which propel the intention become a necessary condition to ameliorate or prevent the actualization of the intention.
Could leadership style, emotional intelligence of leaders, empowerment of librarians be a strong response to reducing turnover intentions of librarians in private universities in South-West and South-South, Nigeria? Hence this study investigated turnover intentions of librarians in private university libraries in South-West and South-South, Nigeria.
1.3 Objective of the Study
The main objective of this study was toinvestigate the influence of Leadership Style, Emotional Intelligence and Empowerment on Turnover Intentions of librarians in Private Universities in South-West and South-South, Nigeria.The specific objectives are to:
1. find out the leadership style most used in private university libraries in South-West and South-South, Nigeria;
2. ascertain the level of Emotional Intelligence of leaders in private university libraries in South-West and South-South, Nigeria;
3. establish the level of empowerment of librarians in private universities in South-West and South-South, Nigeria;
4. determine the level of turnover intentions of librarians in private universities in South-West and South-South, Nigeria;
5. find out the relationship between the independent variables- leadership style, emotional intelligence, empowerment of librarians and the dependent variable, turnover intentions of librarians in private universities in South-Westand South-South, Nigeria;
6. ascertain the influence of leadership style on turnover intentions of librarians in private universities in South-Westand South-South, Nigeria;
7. determine the influence of emotional intelligence of leaders on turnover intentionsof librarians in private universities in South-Westand South-South, Nigeria;
8. find out the influence of empowerment of librarians on their turnover intentions in private universities in South-Westand South-South, Nigeria and
9. establish the combined influenceof leadership style, emotional intelligence and empowerment of librarians on their turnover intentions in private universities in South-West and South-South, Nigeria.
1.4 Research Questions
These research questions were fundamental to this research work. They dwelt on the areas of concern as well as the questions which were believed to need clarification. These were used in guiding this research work:
1. What is the leadership style most used in private university libraries in South-West and South-South Nigeria?
2. What is the level of application of emotional intelligence by leaders in private university libraries in South-West and South-South Nigeria?
3. What is the level of empowerment of librarians in private universities in South-West and South-South Nigeria?
4. What is the level of turnover intentions of librarians in private universities in South-West and South-South Nigeria?
1.5 Hypotheses
The study was guided by the following null hypotheses; hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance.
1. There is no significant relationship between Leadership Style,Emotional Intelligence, Empowerment and Turnover Intentions of Librarians in private universities in South-West and South-South, Nigeria.
2. There is no significant influence of leadership style on turnover intentionsof librarians in private universities South-West and South-South Nigeria.
3. There is no significant influence of emotional intelligence of leaders on the turnover intentionsof librarians in private universities in South-West and South-South, Nigeria.
4. There is no significant influence of empowerment on turnover intentions of librariansin private universities in South-West and South-South, Nigeria.
5. There is no significant combined influence of leadership style, emotional intelligence, and empowerment on the turnover intentions of librariansin private universities in South-West and South-South, Nigeria.
1.6 Scope of the Study
This study focused on the turnover intentions of librarians in private university libraries in South-West and South-South geo-political zones which have 38 out of the 61 private universities in Nigeria accounting for 63.3% of the total number of private universities in Nigeria according to Okebukola (2015) It covered the effects of the independent variables – Leadership Style, Emotional Intelligence and Librarians’ Empowerment on their Turnover Intentions (which is the dependent variable) in private universities in South-West and South-South, Nigeria. The study covered all private universities in the two geo-political zones established before 2015. The universities established in 2015 were believed to probably lack the enduring structures which could honestly provide valid responses to the questions raised by the research. The number of universities not used due to their recent establishment was four for the South-West as well as two others which were not used for other reasons. The affected universities were: Augustine University, Chrisland University, Christopher University, Hallmark University.The two others were: CETEP University on which adequate information could not be gathered on its status though it was established 2005, but seemed not to be operational and still appeared on the National Universities Commission sources. The second was Achievers University, where it was revealed after three visits that staff and students were on an indefinite vacation due to some pestering challenges and a single questionnaire completed by a librarian on ground was not used.
In the South-South, universities excluded from the study because they were established in 2015 were: Edwin Clark University, Michael and Cecilia Ibru University, and Ritman University. Rhema University was also excluded inspite of its establishment in 2009 because the university was still effectively located in a different geo-political region- South-East and only maintains a campus which was not operational in Obeama Asa. The researcher considered the effective location to be outside the geographical scope of the study.The study used all librarians in the university libraries for the study. The study ultimately gave the global outlook on the issues or challenges raised by the study on leadership style, emotional intelligence, librarians’ empowerment and turnover intentions of employees generally and librarianship in particular and narrowed it down to private university libraries in the study area, justifying the need for the study of their turnover intentions.
1.7 Significance of the Study
The private higher education sector has been described as the fastest growing segment of the entire higher education system globally and the Nigerian situation aligns with this trend. Literature on turnover intentions of librarians had hitherto addressed the Nigerian university libraries generally, and private universities were not given adequate attention. This study addressed this and it suggested the need for private university libraries to be managed differently by taking advantage of their ability to quickly adapt to changes and being result-oriented.
The study strongly called for the extension of government interventions in the area of human capacity building and development to private universities. This study also touched on the appropriateness of leadership style, as a secret tool in understanding employees’ behaviour, attitude and retention. It stressed that the engagement and retention of librarians was heavily dependent on leaders with a critical mass of emotional intelligence and empowering behaviour.
Another significance of this study was the need to introduce continuous leadership training with emphasis on emotional intelligence skills and empowering behaviour. The development of the quadrant classification of librarians in terms of “commitment” and “competence” in determining turnover intentions is significant. The recommendation of the study to integrate emotional intelligence skills into the curriculum in library schools remain significant; while the introduction of exit surveys for librarians leaving the universities would assist in taking remedial action. Ultimately, the outcome and recommendations from this study would remain useful beyond private university libraries setting. The recommendations would also be adaptable and useful in the entire university system.
1.8 Operational Definition of Terms
Leadership is the ability to influence, inspire, convince or urge others without coercion to work as a team or individual towards the attainment of organizational goals for the benefit of all. It is the ability to manage in adversity, conflict, uncertainty as well as in good and stable times to achieve sustainable success and organizational goal.
Leadership Style (LS)is defined as how a leader leads to arrive at set goals. It is a consistent attitudinal pattern of a leader towards subordinates, clients, stakeholders and self.
It could also be the process or processes consistently in place which naturally affects the attitudes of leadership and the employees (librarians in this study) with the resultant effects of determining the organizational culture and attainment or non attainment of organizational goals.
Emotional intelligence (EI) refers to intrapersonal and interpersonal understanding and application of self awareness and the awareness of others in the management of relationship in the work environment or ordinary life situations. It is a characterization of the habitual stance towards self and the world firmly determined by the attitudes held by leadership or individuals.
Empowerment in this study refers to the process of giving librarians the freedom to use their initiatives, authority to take decisions on how job is positively executed, exercising some power once reserved for the university librarians without the leaders losing authority and control. It is about trusting subordinates to make decisions in user-services situation or front-end situations and believing in their ability to achieve set goals.
Turnover Intention means “intent to quit”, it means the subjective estimation of an employee’s (and in this study Librarians in private universities, South West, Nigeria) probability of leaving the organization in the near future. It is a culmination of a series of psychological, social and physical circumstances in the work environment that signify a latent underlying rejection of a particular work environment with the high possibility of voluntarily leaving employment. It also refers to the probability of the organization removing employees from employment or from their positions.
Librarians;it refers to persons in the employment of private university libraries in the study area with training in library science, Information Science, Archival Studies and other related disciplines equipped with knowledge in information handling and management.
Private Universities in Nigeria are universities owned, managed and funded solely by individuals, organizations, religious bodies or other participating agencies other than government, but licensed by government through the National Universities Commission. Their mhhain objectives are the same with public universities but are often further envisioned to be proactive, innovative, effective and efficient as well as being market oriented.
University Libraries refer to the central or main libraries in private universities in the study area. They are central statutory academic organs as no university can operate without one. Their adequacy remains a necessary condition for a satisfactory university.
South-West, Nigeria: One of the six geopolitical zones in Nigeria which consists of six states, Ekiti, Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Osun and Oyo. It is a Yoruba speaking area and aside the main yoruba language are other dialects spoken by indigenes of the different states.
Academic Libraries in the context of this study refers exclusively to University Libraries.
South-South, Nigeria: One of the six geo-political zones in Nigeria consisting of Edo, Delta, Rivers, Akwa-Ibom, Cross-River, and Bayelsa. It consists of many ethnic groups with different dialects. The pidgin English remains the commonly spoken language.
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