An Investigation on the Nexus Between Leadership Style and Job Satisfaction of Library Staff in Private University Libraries South-West , Nigeria

Human capital is a key success factor in any organisation. Dissatisfied and unhappy staff may not perform maximally, and this could affect an organisation’s products and services. This study examined the extent to which leadership style, correlated with job satisfaction intention in private university libraries South-West, Nigeria.Survey research design was adopted. The population consisted of all the 361 library staff. Findings revealed that the level of job satisfaction of library staff was low, and that the most practice leadership style is autocratic. It also revealed a significant relationship between leadership style and job satisfaction (r = 0.028, p < 0.05); The study concluded that leadership style contributed significantly to the low level of job satisfaction. It is recommended that library management should be more democratic, payment of allowances should be put in place. This would increase the job satisfaction of the employees in private university libraries. Background to the Study Organization’s competitive advantage, success, and sustainability in an ever increasing turbulent global market are mainly predicated on the job satisfaction and turnover intention of quality human capital. One major reason for a continued interest in the phenomenon of job satisfaction lies in embedded propensity for positive or negative effects on many forms of employees’ behavioural tendencies such as efficiency, productivity, employee relations, absenteeism and rate of turnover. Job satisfaction implies the way an individual feels about rewards, people, events and amount of mental gladness on the job; it can also be described as an emotional response to a job circumstance that may not be seen (Somvir, 2013). Job satisfaction therefore is a veritable ingredient in any work environment as it determines the behavioural patterns of the employees. It also relates to the degree to which workers’ needs and expectations are met in comparison to the prevailing national and global standard. Job satisfaction is conceptualized to mean the level of positive attitude that a librarian and other library staff displays when performing his/her duties in the university library, and the rate at which his/her basic needs are met by the employers. It is interesting to note that if librarians and other library staff are well catered for by the university authorities in the area of due recognition for a job well done, good leadership style for the administration of the university library coupled with a career development opportunities for librarians and other library staff to enhance development of their managerial skills, and conducive work environment as well as improved remunerations (good salaries and wages); their level of job satisfaction will be greatly improved from what is presently existing in most Nigerian universities. (Yaya, 2016). Unfortunately, it is observed that the level of job satisfaction among librarians and other library staff in most university libraries in Nigeria is probably very low compared to what is obtainable among other faculty members of the same educational sector. Job satisfaction as noted by Babalola and Nwalo (2013), enhance organisational success and reduce turnover intention of workers in any organizationespecially in library and information centres as a job satisfied worker is a happy and effective worker. Some factors that are in organisation may affect the job satisfaction of library staff. One of such factors is leadership style. Leadership style is an issue of concern that organizations should pay attention to; the leadership style prevalent in any establishment (including library and information centres) will influence the behaviour of employees in that organization. Leadership style plays a major role in determining the library staff job satisfaction. Thus, effective leadership is a key success factor in employees and organisation’s success or failure. It could be perceived as a process of working through people to achieve organisational goals and objectives. Leadership style can be described as the method or the style that a leader adopts in the management of resources in the organizations including human resources. Findings have shown that there are various leadership styles that can be adopted in the administration of organisations; (Khan, Khan, Qureshi, Ismail, Rauf, Latif, and Tahir 2015; Segun-Adeniran, 2015; Sharma &Jain 2013; Onuoha, 2013). Some of these styles are autocratic, democratic and laissez-fair. Other researchers also classified leadership styles as transactional, transformational and situational. In general, leaders at one point in time adopt a style of leadership in the day to day administration of their organizations; and the style of leadership that is prevalent in an organization/library and information centres will have influence on the organizational resources, functions and services or products. Leadership is a process or an act of inspiring people so as to get the best out of them and at the same time achieve expected results. The leadership style adopted by managers or leaders at one point or the other will influence the librarians’ job satisfaction and turnover intention. Various researchers such as (Kaladeh, (2013), Izidor and Iheriohanma (2015). pointed out that leadership style is crucial for staff job satisfaction and intention to stay, bearing in mind that lack of staff satisfaction can increase the gap in turnover intention rate and manpower deficiency in any organisation including library and information centres; and that leadership and supervision are important in employee retention, and that leadership behavior as perceived by employee, is an important factor of workers’ job satisfaction, dedication, retention and turnover intention. A suitable leadership style existing in any kind of organization could possibly foist and foster enduring organisational culture capable of inspiring employees buy-in for greater satisfaction and loyalty. Statement of the Problem Human capital is a key success factor in any organisation. Dissatisfied and unhappy employees in any organisation may not perform optimally and this may translate into poor productivity, high rate of staff turnover and threat to the organisation generally. Research has shown that the level of job satisfaction of library personnel in Nigerian university libraries is low (Babalola & Nwalo, 2013). This actually is a course for concern. Although some researchers such as Seed and Weseem, (2014); have been carried out on job satisfaction of staff in university libraries, from the researcher’s knowledge, these studies have not studied the variable of leadership style especially in private university libraries. The aim of this research is to find out the relationships among these variables; especially, the extent to which leadership styleinfluence the job satisfaction of library staff in private university libraries, South-West, Nigeria. Objective of the Study The general objective of the study is to investigate leadership style as determinant of job satisfactionof library staff in private universities library, South-West, Nigeria. The specific objectives are to: 1.find out the level of job satisfaction of library staff in private university libraries in south-west Nigeria; 2.ascertain the leadership styles prevalent in private university libraries in south-west Nigeria; 3.find out the relationship between leadership style and job satisfaction of library staff in private university libraries south-west, Nigeria.