1ZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
© RQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA Ibadan Journal of the Social Sciences I'
Volume /0, Number2, March 2012
Organizational Culture and Psychological Factors as Predictors ofIndulgence
in Procastination Among Civil Servants in Oyo State, Nigeria
RichardA.Adu and *Nyitor A. Shenge
Department of Psyclwlogy, University of lbadan; lbadan, Nigeria
The study investigated the influence of organizational culture, self-esteem, self-efficacy and self-
regulation on indulgence in procrastination. It utilized a correlational survey design involving tw o hundred
andforty tw o sampled male (1l4) andfemale (128) civil servants in lbadan, Oyo State, Nigeria. Data were
collected from the sample using five scales. All the scales were re-validated. Four hypotheses were tested.
The results of correlation analyses showed both age and marital status fw d significant negative relationship
w ith procrastination. Likewise, significant negative relationship existed between marital status and indulgence
in procrastination and between work experience and indulgence in procrastination. Further; the results of
multiple regression analysis revealed that organizational culture, self-esteem , self-efficacy and self-regulation
jointly predicted indulgence in procrastination' and that only self-esteem independently predicted
procrastination. The results of analyses of variance showed that both self-esteem and self-regulation had
significant independent main effect on indulgence in procrastination. The t-test analysis result indicated
that organizational culture fw d significant influence on indulgence in procrastination. Thefindings imply
that organizational culture, self-esteem, self-efficacy, and self-regulation are significant predictors of
indulgence in procrastinating behaviour among civil servants in Oyo state. The paper recommends that
employers of labour should take cognizance of these predictors in their intervention programs to boost
employees' productivity and reduce indulgence in procrastination.
Key words: Organizational culture, self-esteem, self-efficacy, self-regulation, indulgence in procrastination
Introduction
Organizations depend on employees to accomplish its goals.
However, employees' productivity could be hampered in some
ways, including through procrastination (Steel, 2003).
Procrastination is one of the numerous social phenomena
that have since received diminished attention of researchers
in work organization. Much of the work on motivation theories
have not been able to lay hold on why people push forward
what they planned to do now to another time (Van Eerde,
2000). The study of procrastination can enhance our
understanding of why employees put off tasks they ought to
accomplish now to a more" convenient time" (Van Eerde,
2<XXJ).
Procrastination is extremely common, and it quite
often affects individual and organizational efficiency and
productivity adversely. Although virtually all of us have at
least one time or other postponed what we have planned to
do to a later day, some have made it a way of life. Estimates
indicate that 80%-95% of university students in Canada
engage in procrastination (Ellis & Knaus, 1977; O'Brien,
2002), approximately 75% consider themselves
procrastinators (potts, 1987), and almost 50% procrastinate
consistently and problematically (Day,Mensiok,& 0' Sullivan,
2000; Haycock, 1993; Micek, 1982; Onwuegbuzie, 2000a;
Solomon & Rothblum, 1984). Beside being endemic among
college students, procrastination isalso prevalent in the general
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