Career Motivation as Determinants of Career Salience of Librarians in Universities in Southwestern, Nigeria

Abstract

The study probed career motivation as a correlate of career salience among South-Western Nigeria university librarians with an aim to establishing the impact of career prioritisation on organisational effectiveness, job satisfaction and retention. A descriptive correlational survey research design was employed in the study with the sample size being 456 librarians. Questionnaire was used as the instrument for collecting data while frequency count, Pearson correlation, and multiple regression were employed in analysing the data. Findings revealed that all the participants showed high levels of career salience, meaning self-confidence in problem-solving, goal achievement, resourcefulness, and coping ability, and none of the librarians showed low career salience. The findings further showed that career motivation had a positive effect on career salience with a multiple correlation coefficient of R = .666 and R² = .444, showing that career motivation significantly contributes to librarians' professionalism and engagement. The study concluded that career motivation is critical in librarians' professional growth, job satisfaction, and commitment that leads to improved service provision and availability of resources in university libraries. It recommended that university managements invest in formal career development activities such as mentoring, workshops, leadership, and research support to sustain and upgrade librarians' career motivation and identity.