EFFECTS OF COGNITIVE BEHAVIOURAL THERAPY AND MOTIVATIONAL INTERVIEWING IN REDUCING DECISIONAL PROCRASTINATION AMONG PUBLIC SECTOR LEADERS IN NIGERIA

Abstract

The study examined the effectiveness of cognitive behavioural therapy and motivational interviewing in reducing decisional procrastination among public sector leaders in South-west, Nigeria. To ascertain the degree of treatment efficacy, a random sample of 75 public sector leaders was selected from three Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) in three states in South-west Nigeria. Twenty-five participants were selected from each MDA chosen in the selected states, and they were exposed to Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Motivational Interviewing, respectively and a control group. The quasi-experimental study of nonequivalent control group design was employed with a 3X2X3 factorial matrix, with the first three for treatment, two for levels of workload and the second three for organisational culture levels as the moderating variables. The instruments used for data collection were the decisional procrastination Scale for Leaders (DMPS-L), Workload Questionnaire (WLQ), and Organizational Culture Scale (OCS). The three instruments were standardised scales with reliability coefficients of 0.78, 0.88 and 0.73, respectively and were used for data collection. Pre-test and post-test data were obtained from each participant and formed the basis of the findings, using ANCOVA for data analysis. Three hypotheses were formulated and tested at α = 0.05 level of significance. Results showed significant differences across all three treatments tested. The post-hoc analyses were carried out for the three hypotheses tested. That is, there were significant main effects of treatment, workload and organisational culture in reducing decisional procrastination among public sector leaders in South-west, Nigeria. It was therefore concluded that Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Motivational Interviewing can be used to reduce decisional procrastination among public sector leaders, and recommendations are also offered.

Keywords: Cognitive behaviour therapy, Motivational interviewing, Decision-making, Procrastination, Public Sector Leaders