Organisational Culture and Its Impact on Employee Retention: Evidence from the Private Tertiary Education Sector of Ghana

Abstract

The study investigates the influence of organisational culture on employee retention among private universities in Ghana. From the review of literature, it appears that the issue of culture in relation to employee retention has not been given much research efforts, especially among private universities in Ghana. The study adopts Handy’s cultural model as limited efforts have been geared toward investigating the effect each of the four kinds of culture has on employee retention. Based on this, six hypotheses were developed and tested. To test for the various hypotheses, multiple regression technique was used. A total sample size of two hundred and sixty-three (263) was selected using the multistage sampling method. Findings from the study revealed that, out of the four pillars/kinds of culture, achievement culture and support culture had significant and positive effects on retention whilst power culture had a significant and negative effects on retention. Role culture had no significant effect on employee retention. The study recommends that, in order for private universities to retain their skilled employees, authorities and policy makers should increase the extent of achievement culture and support culture and minimize the extent of power culture with no regard to role culture.

Keywords: Organisational Culture, Support Culture, Power Culture, Role Culture, Achievement Culture, Employee Retention, Private Universities, Ghana