Autocratic Leadership
Methodology
Survey design was employed in this study. Aina and Ajiferuke stated that survey research involves systematic and comprehensive collection of information about the opinions, attitudes, feelings, beliefs and behavior of people. The collection is often accomplished through the use of questionnaire, interview-another data collecting instruments. The decision to use this design was borne out of the fact that the survey focused on sample population of autocratic leadership style and its impact on subordinate job performance in academic libraries in Rivers State.
The institutions studied are all located in Rivers State which is one of the thirty-six (36) states in Nigeria and was created on 27th May 1967. The capital of Rivers State is Port Harcourt. Interestingly, Port Harcourt is the largest city and is economically significant as the center of Nigeria's old industry.The State was created in 1967 with the split of the Eastern Region of Nigeria. Until 1996, the State contained the area which is now Bayelsa State. Rivers State is famous for its vast reserves of crude oil and natural gas.
Prior to the discovery of oil in commercial quantity in 1958, agriculture was the primary occupation of the people of Rivers State. This was due to its abundant palm oil and kernel which basically constituted the main revenue source of the country. Rivers State is one of the leading states in the production of yam, cassava, cocoyam, maize, rice and beans. Besides being lucrative,fishing is also a favorite past time activity. The State provides valuable seafood's such as crabs, oysters, shrimps and sea snails.
University of Port Harcourt located in Choba, Port Harcourt established by the Federal Government in 1975, the Rivers State University, Port Harcourt founded in 1980 by the State Government; the School of Health Technology, Port Harcourt, established by the state government; the Federal College of Education (Technical), Omoku; and the state-owned Rivers State Polytechnic at Bori; the Rivers State University of Education (Ignatius Ajuru University of Education) at Rumuolumeni, Nkpolu-Oroworukwo and Ndele; and the School of Nursing and Midwifery at Rumeme, Port Harcourt and The Captain Elechi Amadi Polytechnic, Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
All these schools mentioned above, ranging from universities to colleges have existing and functional academic libraries and are of immense help in the course of this research which prompted the researcher to survey them with particular interest in their autocratic leadership style and impact on subordinates' job performance.
The population of the study is 74. This comprises of all the professionals and para-professionals of the academic libraries studied. There is well-structured line of authority and they met the researcher\s specification, they are all located in Port Harcourt. These are University of Port Harcourt library with a population of 41 (22 professionals and 19 para-professionals); Rivers State University 16 (11 professionals and 5 para-professionals) Ignatius Ajuru University of Education Library 10 (7 professionals and 3 para-professionals) and Captain Elechi Amadi Polytechnic Library, 7 (3 professionals and 4 para-professionals). The entire population of 74 was used as sample for this study since it is not too large and can be conveniently managed by the researchers. The census enumeration sampling technique was adopted because the population is small.
The study used questionnaire instrument titled "Autocratic Leadership Style on Job Performance of Subordinates in Academic Libraries (ALSJPSAL)" consisting of five (5) item statements. as the basic research instrument, which is a collection of questions, put together to answer the research question. The questionnaire consists of the questions asked to seek respondents' opinion on the various item statements of the subject of study. A five-point Likert scale questionnaire was developed to provide the respondents ease of answering the questions as per their level of agreement (McLeod, 2008). The Likert scale follows the format of: 1) Strongly Agree(SA); 2) Agree (A); 3) Disagree(D) and 4) Strongly Disagree (SD).
The face validity of the instrument was determined by two experts in Library and Information Science, and Educational Measurement and Evaluation who examined the purpose of the study and research questions alongside with each item of the instrument in order to determine whether the instrument actually measured what it is supposed to measure. The observations made by the experts were used to effect necessary corrections on the instrument before it was final administered to the respondents.
The reliability of the instrument was trail-tested at Imo State University, Owerri Library. This institution was selected because it is outside the area of the study. In this regard, 6 respondents were randomly selected from staff. Split-half method was used to test the reliability of the instrument. The X was for odd numbers while Y was for even numbers. Their responses were analyzed using the Pearson Product Moment Correlation (PPMC). The correlation coefficient (r) is 0.94. This shows that the instrument is very strong and reliable to gather data for the study.The researchers personally administered the data collection instrument to the respondents with the help of the library staff that work in the libraries studied. Four (4) weeks were used for the administration and collection of the instrument. This enabled the researchers have enough time to cover all the institutions.