Gender, compensation and morale as determinants of professional counselors' job performance in Ekiti State Secondary Schools, Nigeria

Abstract

The study examined the impact of gender, compensation and morale as determinants of professional counselors' job performance in Ekiti state secondary schools. The study adopted a descriptive survey research type of the nonexperimental design. The population consisted of all professional counselors in secondary schools in Ekiti State. The sample for the study consisted of 100 professional counselors in secondary schools in Ekiti State. The sample was selected using multistage sampling procedure. Data on counselors’ gender, compensation, morale and job performance were obtained using a self-designed research instrument tagged “Predictors of Job Performance of Professional Counselors Questionnaire". The face and content validity of the instrument was determined by experts in Counseling, Tests and Measurement. The reliability of the instrument was determined through Cronbach’s alpha statistic. A reliability co-efficient of 0.79, showing that the instrument is reliable. The data collected were analyzed using frequency count and percentages. Three hypotheses formulated were tested with the use of t-test and Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient. The major findings of the study were that compensation and job performance were significantly positively correlated, while morale and job performance were not significantly correlated among the sample of the study. Moreover, there was a significant gender difference in the moral of professional counselors. It was recommended that government should promulgate law that will enable counselors in secondary schools fully practice their profession without the addition of other teaching subjects. This will enhance their focus on assisting students in adjusting positively to their academic pursuits.