Examining the impact of organizational culture on trust and career satisfaction in the UAE public sector: A competing values perspective

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of organizational culture on trust in top management and career satisfaction. The concept of culture was split into four types: “clan,” “adhocracy,” “hierarchy” and “market.”

A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data from 128 mid-level managers in ten public sector organizations in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The questionnaire included demographic questions and three established scales to measure culture type, trust in top management and career satisfaction. Correlation and regression analysis were used to examine relationships between variables.

Respondents from “clan” and “adhocracy”-type organizations tended to have more trust in top managers than those from other culture types. Respondents from “clan”-type organizations also had greater career satisfaction. Only a clan-type organizational culture significantly predicted career satisfaction.

The study is based on a small number of mid-level managers working in ten public sector organizations. This limits the generalizability of the results. Future studies should examine both public and private sector organizations operating in various industries across the UAE, to increase the generalizability of the findings. The study results will assist organizational policy makers who wish to transform their organizational culture to one that will increase the career satisfaction of managerial staff and their trust in senior managers.

The study contributes to the literature on organizational culture, particularly on the relationship between trust and career satisfaction in the public sector in the UAE.