Human capital development and staff motivation as predictors of job performance of librarians in private university libraries in South-West Nigeria

Abstract

Human capital development, staff motivation and job performance among librarians has become expedient. On this basis, this study investigated human capital development programmes and motivational packages available to librarians and their effectiveness in predicting job performance of librarians in Nigerian private universities. Three hundred and nine copies of structured and validated Likert-scale type questionnaire were administered to respondents, out of which two hundred and eighteen were retrieved for data analysis. The questionnaire focused on human capital development programmes, job motivation programmes and job performance variables. Stratified random and convenience sampling techniques were used to select the respondents. Descriptive statistics of frequency counts and percentages mean and standard deviation, Pearson Product Moment Coefficient (PPMC) and ordinary least square regression analysis were used to analyse the data. The study found that there was a large, significant positive correlation between human capital development and job performance of librarians (r=.50, p=0.000), while a moderate, significant positive association was noticeable between human capital development and motivation of librarians (r=.35, p=0.000). Further analysis revealed a significant impact of Human Capital Development (HCD) on staff motivation (β = 0.500; t(216)=8.491; p=0.000) and job performance (β = 0.354; t(216)=5.555; p = 0.000). It is concluded from this study that private universities ascribed importance to human capital development (HCD) and motivations of their staff. It is advised amongst others, that the authorities of private universities should be applauded and they are requested to continually make the programme of human capital development an on-going effort for all categories of staff in private universities to enhance their job motivations and performance.