ASSESSMENT OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND JOB PERFORMANCE OF UNIVERSITY LECTURERS IN SOUTH-EAST NIGERIA

Abstract

This study examined the relationship between transformative professional development and the job performance of university lecturers in South East Nigeria. The study adopted a correlational survey research design. The sample comprised 333 lecturers drawn from five federal universities in South East Nigeria using a multistage sampling procedure. Data were collected using two researcher-developed questionnaires titled Transformative Professional Development Questionnaire (TPDQ) and Lecturers' Job Performance Questionnaire (LJPQ). Pearson's Product Moment Correlation was used to answer the research question, while simple linear regression analysis was employed to test the null hypothesis at the 0.05 level of significance. The findings revealed, among other things, that transformative professional development has a significant and very strong positive relationship with the job performance of university lecturers. The study concluded that transformative professional development is a significant predictor of lecturers' job performance. Based on the findings, the study recommended that the National Universities Commission (NUC), as the regulatory agency responsible for university education in Nigeria, should establish and promote comprehensive transformative professional development programmes for lecturers across Nigerian universities to enhance their effectiveness and overall job performance.