Organizational Culture And Emotional Intelligence As Predictors Of Job Performance Among Library Personnel In Academic Libraries In Edo State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study was designed to investigate organizational culture and emotional intelligence as predictors of job performance among library personnel in Edo state, Nigeria. The survey research design was employed for the study with a population size of 181 library personnel in the 15 academic libraries under study, and due to the manageable population size, total enumeration was adopted as the sampling technique. The questionnaire was used to elicit data from the respondents. Of the 181 copies of the questionnaire administered, 163 copies were retrieved and found valid for analysis constituting a 90% response rate. Four research questions and four null hypotheses (tested at 0.05 level of significance) were formulated to guide the study. The tool used to analyze the research question was descriptive statistics (percentage, mean, and standard deviation) and inferential statistics (correlation and multiple regression) for testing the hypotheses. The findings of the study revealed that there is a high level of job performance, good organizational culture, and high level of emotional intelligence among the personnel. Organizational culture and emotional intelligence jointly and significantly predict job performance of personnel. There is significant positive correlation between organizational culture and job performance. The linear combination of emotional intelligence and organizational culture predict job performance of library personnel in the academic libraries under study. The research concludes that there is a need for high job performance in libraries which is predicted by the organizational culture of the library and the level of emotional intelligence of the library personnel.

1. INTRODUCTION

Academic libraries as information-based institutions are set up to meet the information needs of their parent institutions which could be universities, polytechnics, colleges, and other post-secondary institutions. They are established to provide materials that support the objectives of their parent institution which in most cases are teaching, learning, and research. Academic libraries need highly performing individuals in their quest to meet set goals and objectives vis-a-vis effective service delivery, and as such maintain relevance in the 21st century characterized by high influx of information and communication technologies (ICTs) and its attendant information explosion. Performance is important to the library as an organization and to the personnel as individuals in an organization. In view of this, Saetang, Sulumnad, Thampitak, and Sungkaew (2010) opine that success or failure of an organization depends, to a large extent, on the job performance of the individuals working there. Sonnentag and Frese (2001) note that accomplishing tasks and performing at a high level can be a source of satisfaction, with feelings of mastery and pride. Also, that performance if recognized by others within the organization is often rewarded by financial and other benefits. These assertions are suggestive of the fact that performance is important to the institution and to the individual.

The term performance is a multidimensional concept and several attempts have been made by scholars to give an understanding of it. Several authors (Viswesvaran & Ones, 2000; Muchinsky, 2003; Ferris, Brown, Pang, & Keeping, 2010) have defined the concept of performance and central to these definitions is that performance is a measurable concept which entails sets of actions, behavior, and outcomes that employees engage in that is directed towards contributing to and achieving the goals of an organization. 

Performance on its most basic level has been broadly considered either as task or contextual performance. While task performance refers to the proficiency with which an individual performs activities which contribute to an organization’s “technical core,” contextual performance refers to activities which do not contribute to the technical core but which support the organizational, social, and psychological environment in which organizational goals are pursued (Borman & Motowidlo, 1993). Johari and Yahya (2009) note that job performance has become one of the most significant indicators in managing organizational performance, and they add that emphasis has been laid on employees’ job performance as a source of competitive advantage in order to promote responsiveness in enhancing overall organizational effectiveness. Notably, the shared values, beliefs, and ideology of any organization can affect the job performance of personnel in that organization, which is inclusive of the library. This is in line with the assertions of Dwirantwi (2012) that culture is the premier competitive advantage of high-performance organizations and that organizational culture and productivity are closely related. Thus, one could assert from the foregoing that a major criterion for high performance in organizations is the organizational culture, and as such favorable organizational culture is a prerequisite for high performance at the individual and organizational level. The importance of understanding organizational culture is demonstrated through the congruence hypothesis, which states that individuals are more effective when their personal competences align with the culture of the organizations in which they work (Abbett, Coldham, & Whisnant, 2010).

Like most workplaces, academic libraries contend with problems of unhealthy competition, inappropriate behavioral patterns, ethical issues, individual values, unfavorable working conditions, jealousy, anger, hatred, lack of self-control, and lack of understanding, which adversely affect job performance of workers and subsequently the library’s objectives. This places a question on the fulfillment of the library’s objectives and hence, the relevance of the library as an institution charged with the responsibility of providing information to its target audience.

Aboyade (2013) notes that if emotional intelligence (EI) is lacking in university library workers, university librarians will find it difficult to deal with their workforce in that good and friendly working relationships may be lacking, thus culminating in bitterness and acrimony. Mehdi et al. (2012) state that EI is associated with performance and productivity of a worker. The work of the librarian is service oriented such that on a daily basis, he/she renders services to people from different backgrounds and cultures, and thus feelings/emotions skills and characters are taken into vital consideration. As a result of this he/she must have knowledge as regards how to manage emotions and render effective services to these “wonderful” library users that consult collections for information (Ogungbeni, Ogungbo, & Yahaya, 2013).

Therefore, the focus of this study is on investigating how the independent variables of organizational culture and EI of personnel with diverse cultural backgrounds and varying degrees of EI will affect their ability to perform job tasks effectively, which will in turn help the library meet its objectives and ultimately help in the actualization of the objectives of the parent institution in particular and the nation in general.In line with this, the following research questions were raised:

1. What is the level of job performance among personnel in academic libraries in Edo State, Nigeria?

2. What is the level of organizational culture among personnel in academic libraries in Edo State, Nigeria?

3. What is the level of EI among personnel in academic libraries in Edo State, Nigeria?

4. What is the relative contribution of organizational culture and EI on job performance of personnel in academic libraries in Edo State, Nigeria?

The following null hypotheses guided the conduct of the study and were tested at 0.05 level of significance.

Ho1: There is no significant relationship between organizational culture and job performance of personnel in academic libraries in Edo State, Nigeria.

Ho2: There is no significant relationship between EI and job performance of personnel in academic libraries in Edo State, Nigeria.

Ho3: There is no significant relationship between organizational culture and EI of personnel in academic libraries in Edo State, Nigeria.

Ho4: The linear combination of EI and organizational culture does not significantly predict job performance of personnel in academic libraries in Edo State, Nigeria.

 

2. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The 21st century academic libraries in Nigeria have experienced a declined level of use as a result of poor services rendered by library personnel; is a direct outcome of poor job performance as documented in previous studies. Observations have hown that library personnel engage in task and non-task behaviors that negate their chances of performing very well on their jobs and impact negatively on the job performance of others with whom they work. This poor job performance has negatively affected the provision of effective service delivery to library users, questioning the relevance of libraries in this information age. Job performance is not an isolated phenomenon but one predicted by factors like EI and organizational culture. On the aspect of EI, notice has been made of library personnel’s display of anger, lack of self-control, and lack of capacity to understand and manage users’ feelings about an information need, which are all manifestations of poor EI. This poor level of EI is also manifested by heads of libraries as seen in their lack of ability to manage their emotions and that of library personnel. Another common problem among libraries is the poor or unfavorable organizational culture. This poor organizational culture often manifests in unhealthy competition, unfavorable working condition, poor leadership style, and so on, and deters the job performance of library personnel. It is against this background that this study sets out to examine whether organizational culture and EI could predict the job performance of personnel in academic libraries in Edo State, Nigeria.

 

3. LITERATURE REVIEW

In a bid to answer the research questions raised in this study as well as generate valid hypotheses, there is need to survey or review previous research efforts and writings of scholars prior to the variables of the independent (organizational culture and emotional intelligence) and dependent (job performance) variables. Moreover it is pertinent to operationally define these terms or variables for clarity before reviewing literature on them. Organizational culture is a pattern of shared basic assumptions that personnel in academic libraries learn, one which solves problems of external adaptation and internal integration and has worked well enough to be considered valid and, therefore, applica-ble to be taught to new members of the library as the current way to perceive, think, and feel in relation to organizational problems; while emotional intelligence is the ability of academic library personnel to effectively manage one’s emotions and those of others in a way that will boost job performance and in turn help in the actualization of a library’s objectives. The dependent variables of job performance refer to all work related behaviors personnel in academic libraries engage in at the workplace, and how those behaviors affect the goals and objectives of the organization.

 

3.1. Organizational Culture and Job performance of Employee in an Organization

Deal and Kennedy, in Shahzad et al. (2013) state that strong culture in an organization is very helpful in enhancing the performance of employees; this leads to goal achievement and increases the overall performance of the organization. Dugguh and Dennis (2014) note that while performance is a multi-dimensional construct, it may be defined as the record of an individual’s accomplishment, and employee performance therefore is the job-related activities expected of an employee and how those activities are executed. Awadh and Alyahya (2013) carried out research on the study of organizational culture on employee performance and assert that the job performance of an organization has a strong impact on strong organization culture as it leads to enhanced productivity. They however recommend that the strong culture of an organization based upon managers and leaders helps in improving levels of performance. Managers relate organizational performance and culture to each other as they help in providing competitive advantage to firms. This corroborates Shahzad, Luqman, Khan, and Shabbir (2012), that organizational culture has a positive impact on employees’ job performance. According to Calori and Sarnin, in Naicker (2008), strong cultures could be linked with high growth performance. They also found that the intensity of the company’s culture is positively correlated with its relative growth.

According to Shahzad, Luqman, Khan, and Shabbir (2012), claims that organizational culture is attached to performance are initiated on the apparent role that culture can play in competitive advantage. Naicker (2008) posits that organizational culture has assumed considerable importance in the 21st century, because of its impact on employee performance. It is imperative for every organization to understand its dynamic culture so that managers can capitalize on the insights generated by the cultural perspective, in order to wield greater control over their organizations. Hence, the culture of an organization has an important impact on its performance.

Ogbonna and Harris carried out a study in 2000 on “leadership style, organizational culture, and performance: empirical evidence from UK companies,” and they conclude that competitive and innovative cultures which are sensitive to external conditions have a strong and positive impact on organizational performance. 

 

3.2. Emotional Intelligence and Job Performance of Employees in an Organization

Managers’ emotional intelligence had a stronger positive correlation with job performance of employees (Sy, Tram, & O’Hara, 2006). According to the authors, some managers who are technically and academically brilliant but deficient in emotional intelligence may fail woefully to handle stress and manage feelings of success or failures. Therefore, emotionally intelligent managers and heads of university libraries should be able to recognize negative dysfunctional emotions when they occur and be able to replace them with positive and functionally useful ones, thereby turning workers’ sadness to happiness, anxiety to acceptance, and fear to comfort. Thus, a university library that is lucky to have a high level emotionally intelligent university librarian may certainly experience improved collegiality and communication among the workforce, less workplace conflict, a better work environment, happier and committed library employees, and happier and more satisfied library clientele. In this scenario, the university library will be in a vantage position to boost the webometric ranking of the parent institution thus helping the university to rank high among the world universities ranking (Aboyade, 2013).

Afolabi, Awosola, and Omole (2010), in Aboyade (2013) examine the influence of emotional intelligence and gender on job performance and job satisfaction among Nigerian police officers, and they find that those who are of high emotional intelligence are more satisfied and perform better than police officers who are of low emotional intelligence. Hendrix (2013) opines that academic libraries are in a period of rapid organizational change, which can be engaging and stimulating and can also arouse strong emotions as a result of perceived losses and conflicting values; librarians are experiencing a range of emotions including optimism, cynicism, anxiety, and apathy. He adds that on university campuses libraries have traditionally been highly valued, but the changes occurring in academic libraries now may question the role of libraries. Individuals facing reorganizations, budget cuts, and altered job duties as well as anticipating or experiencing change, especially change that is outside their control, will likely have feelings of wariness, anxiety, or concern—variations of fear. Unmanaged emotions can be contagious to others and detrimental to the change process and to the individual, hence the need for emotional intelligence among employee in academic libraries. 

 

3.3. Organizational Culture and Emotional Intelligence of Employees in an Organization

Downey, Roberts, and Stough (2011) carried out research on “Workplace culture, emotional intelligence, and trust in the prediction of workplace outcomes” using an Australian council variously comprised of senior management to individual contributors, and in their introductory part of the work made remarks from the work that 

Although culture has been proven to be a powerful force in organizations, as it can shape people’s thoughts, behaviors, and emotions within their workplace (Pizer & Hartel, 2005), scholarly discourse has largely ignored the role of emotions in organizational culture (Beyer & Nino, 2001). Recently it has been argued that the power of culture is largely due to the emotional needs of individuals (Pizer & Hartel, 2005), and how these needs are fulfilled by leaders (Downey, Papageorgiou, & Stough, 2006), groups (Jordan, Ashkanasy, Hartel, & Hooper, 2002) and by association, organizations as a whole. Emotions are processes that result from the social context in which they are elicited and that, in turn, influence how people feel and act in this social context (De Dreu, West, Fischer, & MacCurtain, 2002). Indeed, culture provides a social medium within which members can identify and form emotional bonds with each other (Beyer & Nino, 2001); which can satisfy their need for belonging (De Dreu et al., 2002), commitment to organizations (Schein, 2004), trust in leaders (Gardner, Fisher, & Hunt, 2009), and job satisfaction (Shiu & Yu, 2010). Given this recent focus on the emotional needs of employees, this study aimed to identify how groups express, understand, use, manage and control emotions and the trust engendered by the leader of teams was predictive of organizational outcomes.

Rude (2014) proposed that emotional intelligence and organizational culture affiliation is reciprocal in nature. In that regard, and as a complement to the knowledge boundary-spanning effects of EI, culture has tremendous influence on emotional process: “Culture…. Influences the selection of an action or behavior as a response to the event” (Herkenhoff, 2004). Danaeefard et al. (2012) carried out research on emotional intelligence and organizational culture and state that principally, it is expected that the creation of emotional intelligence paves the way for the development of organizational culture in an organization.

 

4. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

Since the crux of this research work is on job performance, the theoretical framework on which to anchor it is the theory of Campbell (1990), which is based on an eight factor theory of performance which accounts for all behaviors that are encompassed by job performance and also attempts to capture dimensions of job performance across all jobs. The eight factor theory of performance which is the central theme of this work captures the concept of performance of task performance using the factor of task specific behaviors and contextual performance using the factor of nontask specific behaviors. The theory covers all aspects of performance across all jobs including that of library personnel. It is however particularly related to this research work because some of the factors of the theory relate to the independent variables of this research work. For instance, the factors of demonstration effort and of maintaining personal discipline relate to organizational culture, which is a construct to be measured in this work, whereas the factors of facilitating peer and team performance, and that of managerial and administrative performance, relates to emotional intelligence which is another construct to be measured in this work.

On the independent variable of emotional intelligence, the mixed model theory will be pivotal to the study. The theory as postulated by Goleman in 1995 outlines four main clusters of general emotional intelligence abilities which include: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management. The theory is particularly of relevance to this study as it addresses EI from the perspective of performance, since the model gives attention to the competence and skills that drive performance of library personnel and library management.

On the aspect of organizational culture, the Edgar Schein model of organizational culture will be considered central to this work as it expresses the gradual formation of culture within an organization. Schein’s model presents three interrelated levels of an organizational culture which in order of their visibility are: Artefacts, Espoused values, and Underlying assumptions. This model relates to this study as the library as a formal organization is characterized by culture at these three different levels.

 

5. METHODOLOGY

For the purpose of this work, the survey research design will be employed to aid the elicitation of responses on the variables under study (organizational culture, emotional intelligence, and job performance) in order to determine the current status of the population with regards to the variables. The target population of the study will comprise professional librarians and library officers, male and female, in academic libraries in Edo State. Hence, the population of study for this work is 181 employees, professional librarians, and library officers. Professional librarians number 76 while that of library officers are 105 within the 15 academic libraries (attached to universities, polytechnics, colleges, and institutes) in Edo State used for the study. Total enumeration will be adopted as the sampling technique as a result of the small and manageable population. Hence, the sample size of the study will be 181 library employees consisting of professional librarians and library officers.

 

5.1. Research Instrument

The research instrument or tool that was used to elicit data for this study was the closed ended questionnaire. The instrument, which was titled “Organizational Culture, Emotional Intelligence and Job Performance Questionnaire (OEJPQ)” consists of two parts and four sections. The first part of the questionnaire is to be filled in by the respondents, which includes Section A (Demographic Information of Respondents), Section B (Organizational Culture Scale), and Section C (Emotional Intelligence Scale). The second part of the questionnaire will be completed by the respondents’ immediate boss or supervisor and this part contains Section D (Job Performance Scale) only. Likert scale was used with corresponding scoring formants for each scale.

The details of the constituting sections of the research instrument are discussed below:

Section A: Demographic Information of Respondents

This section of the instrument contains the demographic information of the respondents which includes name of institution, name of library, gender, age, section of placement in the library, marital status, highest educational qualification, and job tenure.

 

Section B: Organizational Culture Scale

Human Factors International (www.hfi.com) has designed a measuring scale for organizational culture called Organizational Culture Questionnaire (OCQ) which was used for the study. This section of the instrument contains 26 items that measure the organizational culture of the respondents’ place of work. The organizational culture questionnaire explores the prevailing culture within an organization using these 26 items across 13 dimensions, with an original reliability coefficient for the overall scale giving a Cronbach alpha of 0.81.

 

Section C: Emotional Intelligence Scale

The Emotional Intelligence scale, originally called Trait Meta-Mood scale (TMMS-24) by Salovey, Mayer, Goldman, Turvet, and Palfai (1995) was adopted for the study. The scale measures EI using 24 items subdivided into three subscales or dimensions: emotional perception, emotional comprehension, and emotional regulation. The internal reliability of the original TMMS collectively was 0.95. While for each of the dimensions a Cronbach alpha of 0.88 was observed for perception dimension, a Cronbach alpha of 0.89 for the comprehension dimension and a Cronbach alpha of 0.86 was observed for the regulation dimension. Thus, it was asserted that the items are homogeneous and the scale consistently measures the characteristics for which it was created. 

 

Section D: Job Performance Scale

The job performance scale for this research work was an adopted copy of Aboyade (2013), “Influence of Job Motivation, Emotional Intelligence and Self-Concept on Job Performance among Library Workers in Federal Universities in Nigeria,” where the author had a reliability coefficient of 0.94 for the job performance scale. However, the original scale designed by Popoola (2002), “Assessment of actual performance standards/general abilities,” has a reliability coefficient of 0.87. The 21 item scale is met to ascertain performance of individuals from the opinion of their immediate boss or supervisor. 

To determine the reliability of the instrument containing the three scales, 30 copies of the questionnaire were pretested in the Kenneth Dike Library, University of Ibadan and some of its outreach libraries. The Cronbach alpha method was used to determine the reliability of each scale in the questionnaire which gave the following results: 0.95 for organizational culture, 0.90 for EI (where perception dimension had 0.74, comprehension dimension had 0.75, and regulation dimension had 0.79), and 0.72 for job performance.

 

5.2. Method of Data Collection and Analysis

The data set collected was analyzed using descriptive statistics such as ercentage (%) and mean and standard deviation for the research questions, while inferential statistics such as correlation and multiple regression will be used for the hypothesis, which will be tested at 0.05 level of significance with the aid of statistical package for social sciences (SPSS).

 

6. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

A total of 181 copies of the research instrument were distributed, out of which 163 were retrieved and used for analysis, representing a 90% response rate. The response rate of 90% is considered adequate for analysis since the standard acceptable for most research work is 60% (Dulle, Minish-Majanja, & Cloete, 2010).
A total of 181 copies of the research instrument were distributed, out of which 163 were retrieved and used for analysis, representing a 90% response rate. The response rate of 90% is considered adequate for analysis since the standard acceptable for most research work is 60% (Dulle, Minish-Majanja, & Cloete, 2010).

 

6.1. Answers to Research Questions

Four research questions were generated for this study to find out the level of job performance, organizational culture, emotional intelligence, and the relationship between organizational culture and emotional intelligence, as well as the relative influence of organizational culture and emotional intelligence on job performance of personnel in academic libraries in Edo State, Nigeria.

 

Research Question One: What is the level of job performance among personnel in academic libraries in Edo State? (See Table 1)Test of norm was conducted to determine the level of job performance among personnel in academic libraries in Edo State. The scale between 1 and 35 shows that the level is low, and scale 36 to 70 shows a moderate level, while 71 to 105 shows a high level of job performance. 
Thus, the overall mean for job performance of the library personnel is 84.79 which falls between the scale “71 and 105”; therefore, it could be inferred that the level of 
job performance among personnel in academic libraries in Edo State is high.

Research Question Two: What is the level of organizational culture among personnel in academic libraries in Edo State? (See Table 2)Test of norm was conducted to determine the level of organizational culture among personnel in academic libraries in Edo State. The scale between 1 and 43 shows that the level is low, and scale 44 to 86 shows a moderate level, while 87 to 130 shows a high level of organizational culture. Thus, the overall mean for organizational culture of the library personnel is 103.51 which falls between the scale “87 to 130.” Therefore, it could be inferred convincingly that the level of organizational culture among personnel in academic libraries in Edo State is good.

 

Table 1. Job Performance of Personnel in Academic Libraries in Edo State

 

Table 2. Organizational Culture among Personnel in Academic Libraries in Edo State

 

Table 3. Emotional Intelligence of Personnel in Academic Libraries in Edo State

 

intelligence. Thus, the overall mean for emotional intelligence of the library personnel is 98.01 which falls between the scale “81 and 120.” Therefore, it could be inferred convincingly that the level of emotional intelligence among personnel in academic libraries in Edo State is very high.

Research Question Four: What is the relative contribution of organizational culture and emotional intelligence on job performance of personnel in academic 
libraries in Edo State? (See Table 4)

Table 4 reveals the relative contribution of the two independent variables to the dependent variable, expressed as beta weights, vis: Organizational Culture (β = 0.437, P <0.01), and Emotional Intelligence (β = 0.186, P <0.05), hence organizational culture and emotional intelligence jointly and significantly predict job performance of personnel in academic libraries in Edo State.

 

6.2. Presentation of Hypothesis

The literature was extensively surveyed on the variables and previous findings showed a positive relationship among the variables. In view of this, the authors raised null hypotheses which contradict such previous findings in order to place a burden of proof on such previous findings in a bid to arrive at a better judgment. This is in line with Clin (1982) that null hypotheses are used to verify that multiple experiments are producing consistent results, while Ifidon and Ifidon (2007) assert 
that a null hypothesis concerns a judgment as to whether apparent differences are real differences or whether they merely result from sampling errors. Therefore, since our surveyed literature showed positive correlation between variables used, it is best to use null hypotheses to verify previous findings. This section of the work thus reports the results of four null hypotheses for this research work and they were tested at 0.05 level of significance. (See Table 5)

 

Table 4. Multiple Regression Analysis of the Relative Contribution of Organizational Culture and EI to Job Performance of Personnel 
in Academic Libraries in Edo State

 

Table 5. Correlation Matrix of Organizational Culture, Emotional Intelligence, and Job Performance of Respondents

 

Ho1: There is no significant relationship between organizational culture and job performance of personnel in academic libraries in Edo State, Nigeria.

Table 5 shows there is significant positive correlation (r = 0.404**; p< 0.05) between organizational culture and job performance of personnel in academic libraries in Edo State. This means that as organizational culture improves, job performance of personnel also improves; therefore, Ho1 is rejected.

Ho2: There is no significant relationship between emotional intelligence and job performance of personnel in academic libraries in Edo State, Nigeria.

As seen in Table 5, there is significant positive correlation (r = 0.305**; p< 0.05) between emotional intelligence and job performance of personnel in academic libraries in Edo State. This means that as emotional intelligence improves, job performance of personnel also improves; therefore, Ho2 is rejected.

Ho3: There is no significant relationship between organizational culture and emotional intelligence of personnel in academic libraries in Edo State, Nigeria.

As seen in Table 5, there is significant positive correlation (r = 0.521**; p< 0.05) between organizational culture and emotional intelligence of personnel in academic libraries in Edo State. This means that as organizational culture improves, emotional intelligence of personnel also improves; therefore Ho3 is rejected.

Ho4: The linear combination of emotional intelligence and organizational culture does not significantly predict job performance of personnel in academic libraries in Edo state, Nigeria.

Table 6 shows the linear combination of emotional intelligence and organizational culture as it predicts job performance of personnel. The result shows R= 0.419, R²= 0.176, Adj R²= 0.165, and F-ratio= 17.04 at P<0.05. This means that 16.5% of the variance was accounted for by emotional intelligence and organizational culture; therefore Ho4 is rejected.

 

6.3 Discussion of Findings

It was discovered that the level of job performance among these personnel is high. This finding on the high job performance of the respondents under study is in line with previous studies (Aboyade, 2013; Bello & Mansor, 2012). It is germane to state at this juncture that while libraries are faced with technological changes that question their place in this present information age, the job performance of library personnel is more than ever imperative in a bid to provide users with excellent library services and thus retain a place of pride in the education sector and beyond.
The result shows that the level of organizational culture among personnel in academic libraries in Edo State is good. The implication of this is that the management of academic libraries in Edo State will do everything possible to ensure that library staff perform satisfactorily in the discharge of their duties. Another finding of this work that corresponds with the foregoing is that library personnel are respected for their expertise, with 131 respondents constituting 80.4% of the entire respondents in support of this fact, and this has a correlation with the 

 

Table 6. ANOVA of the Linear Combination of EI and Organizational Culture in Predicting the Job Performance of Personnel in 
Academic Libraries in Edo State, Nigeria

 

assertion of Tepeci (2001). Another key finding that the high level of organizational culture among these library personnel depicts is that the library rewards individual 
and group performance, which corroborates Ng’ang’a and Nyongesa (2012). 

The level of emotional intelligence of personnel in academic libraries in Edo State is high. This implies that the personnel in these libraries, while managing their emotions and those of co-workers and library users, are able to discharge their duties towards high performance, which corroborates Khan and Ullah (2014). In line with this, Sutton (2006) asserts that emotional intelligence expands our possibilities for personal impact; it is contagious, creating inspiration and energy. The library as a social and service oriented institution definitely needs personnel with high levels of emotional intelligence since they serve the information needs of diverse people with varying emotions at different points in time. With this they can perceive, understand, and better manage their emotions and those of their clientele hence rendering effective library services. It is therefore pertinent to state here that personnel in the libraries studied are well equipped to keep their jobs and grow in their chosen profession (librarianship) and as such there is hope for a better set of librarians in the state who will help move the profession into the limelight. 

The study shows that organizational culture and emotional intelligence jointly and significantly predict job performance. Though there is literature that links organizational culture with emotional intelligence (Pizer & Hartel, 2005), there was no literature that discussed the influence of both (organizational culture and emotional intelligence) on job performance. This is a major area this research work intends to contribute to knowledge, as it has made it explicit that when organizational culture and emotional intelligence are considered together, they will have collective influence on job performance, particularly that of academic library personnel. The importance of this finding therefore is that academic libraries like every other institution will marry both developing suitable organizational culture to ensuring high emotional intelligence of personnel so as to ensure effective job performance of their personnel, which in turn helps the library achieve its goals and objectives.

Hypothesis one reveals there is significant positive correlation between organizational culture and job performance of personnel in academic libraries in Edo State. This is in agreement with the findings of Olanipekun, Aje, and Abiola-Falemu (2013); Parthasarathy and Ramalingam (2015); Azhar (2003); and Ng’ang’a and Nyongesa (2012). Prior to this finding and previous work that linked organizational culture with performance, it was expected that management of libraries, especially academic libraries, should do all they can to provide or build an organizational culture that will ensure effective job performance of personnel, therefore making the library a productive branch within any academic institution it is attached to. In view of this, it can be extrapolated that in the academic libraries under study, this organizational culture is tantamount to a competitive weapon that can give competitive advantage in the form of better performances.

Hypothesis two reveals there is significant positive correlation between emotional intelligence and job performance of personnel in academic libraries in Edo State. This corroborates Shahhosseini, Silong, Ismail, and Uli (2012); Suan, Anantharaman, and Kin (2015); and Akhtar, Ibrahim, Riaz, and Hussain (2015). Ahuja (2015) notes that because of the influence of emotional intelligence on each form of one’s work life, employees who possess high-level emotional intelligence are considered “star performers”; as a result there exists a clear correlation between emotional intelligence and job performance. The implication is that as the emotional intelligence of personnel in the libraries under study continues to increase, there will be a corresponding increase in their ability to perform their job better. These findings have pertinent implications for library personnel considering the fact that the nature of their work is service oriented and requires frequent interaction with users who have information needs, placing intellectual demands on these personnel. Service orientation, an indicator of social awareness, is essential for librarianship as there is always librarian-user interaction for intellectual benefits (Khan & Ullah, 2014). They note that 

as librarianship means to serve users information needs, high level of service orientation skills is significant towards effective performance. These skills may enable librarians enhance the scope of their libraries. Users may see library as the best option for information retrieval if their needs are appropriately met. Results showed that because of high service orientation skills, librarians are happy to serve users in their information needs. 

In view of the dramatic changes libraries face in this era, emotional intelligence has come to give library personnel adaptive features to accommodate and strive in 
the midst of such changes.

On hypothesis three, findings show that there is significant positive correlation between organizational culture and emotional intelligence of personnel in academic libraries in Edo State and the implication of this is that as the organizational culture of these libraries improves, the emotional intelligence of personnel in the libraries will also improve accordingly. On the other hand, the aggregate emotional intelligence of workers will ensure the development of effective organizational culture. This positive relationship between organizational culture and emotional intelligence supports Danaeefard et al. (2012), Danquah (2014), and Sin and Yazdanifard (2014). The creation and development of emotional intelligence in the library will enhance the development of organizational culture and vice versa.

Hypothesis four shows that the linear combination of emotional intelligence and organizational culture predicts the job performance of the respondents. This means 16.5% of the variance was accounted for by emotional intelligence and organizational culture. The implication of this is that the linear combination of emotional intelligence and organizational culture will predict the job performance of personnel in academic libraries in Edo State, Nigeria. Balazs (2015) notes that in order to achieve the opportunities provided by human intellect, enhancing individual performance, organizations have to promote the balance of emotional skills as well as supporting values [culture] that imply the richness of human experience. On the same footing, Akhtar et al. (2015) in “Impact of organizational culture and emotional intelligence on educational sector performance” found that emotional intelligence greatly impacts educational sector employees’ performance in Pakistan and that they never engaged in any kind of conflict within the organization; this shows cohesiveness amongst employees and encourages them to do their best for their organizations.

Knowing that culture is important in shaping organizational practice and performance (O’Donnell & Boyle, 2008), the head librarians and other management staff of academic libraries should pay utmost attention to creating the right organizational culture for members of staff. In library management, consideration of factors that influence the job performance of personnel, the organizational culture of the library, and emotional intelligence of personnel should be factors given adequate attention.

 

7. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The job performance of personnel in academic libraries like other institutions are influenced by factors which could be demographic, psychological, and institutional. However, this research work investigated organizational culture and emotional intelligence as predictors of job performance among personnel in academic libraries in Edo State, Nigeria and concludes that these two independent variables, organizational culture and emotional intelligence, greatly influence the job performance of personnel in the libraries under study. It was discovered that these libraries have high levels of organizational culture and high emotional intelligence among their workers and thus high job performance of personnel. It therefore implies that organizational culture and emotional intelligence predict the job performance of academic libraries in Edo State, Nigeria. 

The importance of high performance cannot be overemphasized at an individual level and the group level, that is, to the workers and the academic libraries and by extension, the institutions these libraries are attached to. At the individual level, high job performance enables the worker to sustain his/her job, get along, and get promoted at the appropriate time. It is expected of a worker with financial responsibilities to desire to keep his/her job since it is a means of livelihood, and high performance guarantees this. Also, the worker can derive satisfaction and fulfillment in his/her job and in life generally by performing optimally in his/her job. At the group level, the aggregate high performance of workers in the library will amount to high library performance; and this will give the library a competitive edge and help in the fulfillment of its objectives which are cut-out from the objectives of its parent institution. The implication of this is that high performance of library personnel will help the parent institution (university, polytechnic, or monotechnic) in fulfilling their vision and mission thus placing them at the pinnacle nationally and internationally.In view of this the following recommendations are made:

1. Management of academic libraries must continually strive to build an organizational culture that will enhance high job performance of their employees; and put in place capacity building like organizing workshops, seminarsand conferences to help library personnel develop a high level of EI: a factor required to perform optimally in their jobs.
2. At the level of personnel recruitment, management of academic libraries should give preference to individuals with high emotional intelligence who have traits of self-awareness, self-management, self-motivation, empathy, and social skills so as to recruit personnel who are well able to handle their emotions and those of others for high job performance. This is in line with Hernon and Rossiter (2006) who investigated recruitment efforts to hire staff with EI skills.
3.  Management of academic libraries must ensure that they put in place structures and systems that are fair and without discrimination and nepotism towards personnel regardless of gender, ethnicity, religiosity, or personal proximity. Therefore reward systems, disciplinary actions, and such must be carried out in equity, devoid of preferential treatment.
4. Management of academic libraries should embrace change in culture that is in favor of the library and introduce such changes to personnel 
   in a way that will be well received, since culture is not static but dynamic and influenced greatly by civilization.
5. Personnel in academic libraries should carry out self-development on themselves in aspects of emotional intelligence, communication, interpersonal relations, and so on rather than wait for the library to train or develop them. They must be proactive in taking up training and any such programs that can improve their job performance.
6. Regulatory bodies of librarianship in Nigeria and other countries should include in the study syllabus a compulsory course that will equip library students with knowledge of psychological constructs that can be blended into librarianship. Such psychological concepts include but are not limited to emotional intelligence, self-esteem, self-concept, motivation, and satisfaction.