Disentangling the effects of nucleon transfer via the $Q$-value and deformation on fusion has been a longstanding objective. To address this, a comparative analysis of the barrier distribution, which is an alternative probe to fusion, for the ${}^{14}$N+${}^{178}$Hf and ${}^{16}$O+${}^{178}$Hf systems have been performed. The consistent alteration in deformation by choosing the same target ${}^{178}$Hf mitigates its influence, thereby allowing for an explicit investigation of the effect of the $Q$-value of nucleon transfer for these two systems. Consequently, the quasi-elastic scattering was measured for ${}^{14}$N+${}^{178}$Hf at backward angles. The extracted excitation and barrier distribution were analyzed in light of coupled-channel calculations, which indicated a significant contribution from the one and two-neutron transfer channels, alongside the rotational degrees of freedom in the highly deformed ${}^{178}$Hf nucleus. Furthermore, the coupling strength was extracted using the chi-square minimization method, yielding a value $$0.201. The extracted coupling strength of ${}^{14}$N+${}^{178}$Hf was compared with that of the two-neutron transfer in the ${}^{16}$O+${}^{178}$Hf system, which indicates that the coupling strength for nucleon transfer decreases with an increase in the $Q$-value. This observed behavior might be due to the spectroscopic structures of the ${}^{16}$O and ${}^{14}$N. The present study indicates that the spectroscopic properties play a significant role, along with $Q$-values, in influencing the fusion reaction dynamics.