METHODOLOGY
3.1 Introduction
Research methodologies provide a systematic guide or procedures for conducting knowledge-based inquiries in any field. Although researchers in different fields of study, including social science, use either qualitative or quantitative method, both approaches may be combined in one study to increase the validity and reliability of results (Valtakoski, 2020). Unlike quantitative (numerical) studies that require statistical evaluations and sampling logic, the author of this paper applies a comparative-case qualitative (non-numerical) design to examine the impact of corporate culture on employee turnover at BBC offices in the United Kingdom and Nigeria (Lindhult & Axelsson, 2021).
3.2 Data required for the comparative study and why.
Case studies allow in-depth analysis of contemporary, real-life contexts about a phenomenon (an observable fact or event) and an individual unit such as an organization or a group of persons (e.g., employees and communities). Phenomena in this context refer to knowledge gained through experience rather than thought or intuition. A case study is commonly used in situations where the correlation between variables is unclear—e.g., the link between corporate culture and employee turnover. Case studies help researchers to answer the why or how questions in qualitative studies by providing reliable data for an informed analysis of respondents’ experiences with a phenomenon. So, the author collected data for the comparative analysis from primary and secondary sources to gain reliable insights into real-life culture-related experiences shared by a group of individuals working in an organization. The case study was chosen because it allows a holistic review of events and reduces/eliminates bias in judgements Patnaik & Pandey, 2019).
3.3 Sources of Data
The author collected both primary and secondary data for this study to test researcher bias and gather relevant pieces of information that fully explore the topic. Thus, sources of data include interviews, observations and questionnaires, as well as historical records, journals, statistical data, reports etc. BBC employees (past and present) are the primary source of information for this comparative study due to their first-hand experience with workplace culture and other dependent variables that determine turnover rates.
Although primary data is expensive, it is confidential, timely, accurate and reliable. Moreover, it answers specific questions—about the efficiency of work process, work flexibility, workplace relationships, innovation management, compensations, clarity of goals, quality of supervision, shared values, and inclusiveness in organizations—that secondary data cannot. The author used these culture-related metrics to gain reliable insights into what variables that have high or low significance to employee turnover, and how (Xu et al, 2022).
3.4 Research Approach
To determine which workplace cultures are more desirable and those associated with high turnover rates at BBC organizations in the United Kingdom and Nigeria, the author used interviews and correlational-type questionnaire surveys. Interviews with open-ended questions are most suitable for qualitative studies because they help researchers collect in-depth information. Generally, interviews make it easier for people to share their opinions and experiences as well as explain their behaviours thereby improving the interviewer’s understanding of phenomena. Information collected from questionnaires are also important in qualitative studies because, when interpreted or analysed, it provides first-hand details upon which researchers can draw factual conclusions and proffer effective solutions to most pressing issues and questions in different fields. Answers gathered from questionnaires depend on the questions; thus, there are definite answers for specific questions, and consistent questions often generate consistent answers. Additionally, questionnaires are a cost-effective data collection method (Tkachenko et al, 2022).
3.5 Population Sample
Total population sample for the study consists of two hundred and sixty-three (263) individuals (male and female) who either worked for BBC in the past or are presently employed by the organization. Criterion for the selection includes years of experience (a minimum of six months) and geographical location (UK and Nigeria). The author communicated with the research participants via email and phones to sensitize them on the purpose and relevance of this study. The initial contact with respondents helped identification of those who consented to receiving emails, questionnaires, or both. So, all respondents have clear understanding of corporate culture and workplace abuse and were assured anonymity for their voluntary involvement. In compliance with rules and regulations stipulated by the Ethics Committee on studies involving humans, the author strictly adhered to safety procedures to ensure data security, confidentiality, and personal privacy.
3.6 Data Sampling/Analysis
Primary data for this study was collected through multiple-choice questionnaires and semi-structured, open-end interview questions. All questions were designed to explore key issues in corporate culture and employee turnover, including how the following variables—quality of supervision, workplace relationships, customer experience, ethical practice, compensation, and collaboration, among others—impact on employee satisfaction and engagement and the overall performance of BBC organizations in both countries under review. Secondary data was gathered from BBC websites and annual reports, including journals, academic books, employee review websites (e.g., Glassdoor, RateMyEmployer, Indeed, Google Reviews, Yelp, JobCase, and Facebook Page Reviews). Other sources of relevant data are research institutions such as Gallup and MITSloan Management Review. These sources of primary and secondary are extensive enough to reflect how BBC employees perceive organizational culture.
Interview conversations (transcripts) were recorded to enable the author quote respondents in their own words where necessary. This approach gives reliable insight into how the participants, especially groups within a sample population, think about corporate culture metrics that are applicable to their country-level organizations. This analysis therefore gives an insight into what comes to mind when BBC employees (past or present) hear about the ‘Great Resignation,’ healthy culture, or a toxic workplace. The author sieved results and considered all viewpoints while making inferences, conclusions, and recommendations.
This qualitative study aims to identify the correlation between company culture (independent variable) and employee turnover (dependent variable). To improve the validity and reliability of results and inspire confidence in the research, data collected through sources were analysed based on location and culture-related values such as (a) the quality of supervision (2) career advancement opportunities (3) relationship with colleagues (4) clarity of roles/responsibilities, and (5) communication, among others. Primary data from questionnaires and interviews were examined using a recent version of Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS). The author also applied descriptive statistics to highlight percentage, mean and standard deviation (SD) for the research questions although discussion is mainly explanatory. Other research instruments are the Organisational Culture Assessment Tool (OCAT) and Employee Retention Instrument (ERI). While the research instruments are necessary to present a Likert scale showing the degree of agreement with research statements, descriptive statistics helps to analyse questionnaires, which are the principal research instrument.
REFERENCES
Bernard, Rosauer L. (2013). “Three Bell Curves: Business Culture Decoded.” World Documents. Available Online: Three Bell Curves – Business Culture Decoded – [PDF Document] (fdocuments.net)
Bibi, P., Ahmad, A., and Majid, A.H.A. (2018), “HRM Practices and Employee Retention: The Moderating Effect of Work Environment”, Ali, F., Rasoolimanesh, S.M. and Cobanoglu, C. (Ed.) Applying Partial Least Squares in Tourism and Hospitality Research, Emerald Publishing Limited, Bingley, pp. 129-152.
Boussebaa, M. (2021), “From cultural differences to cultural globalization: towards a new research agenda in cross-cultural management studies”, Critical Perspectives on International Business, Vol. 17 No. 3, pp. 381-398.
Carson, J., Waddingham, J. and Mackey, J. (2020), “Organization member action proximity and attributions for managerial crisis response failure”, Management Decision, 58 (10); 2177-2193.
David, H. (2022). The BBC: A People’s History. Profile Books. p. 6.
Denison, D. R, Janovics, J. E., & Young, J. L. (2004). “Diagnosing Organizational Cultures: Validating a Model and Method.” Ann Arbor: Denison Consulting
Denison, D., Hooijberg R., Lane N., Lief C. (2012). “Leading Culture Change in Global Organizations: Aligning Culture and Strategy.” San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Denney, Shannon (2019). “Driving Change from the Bottom Up in a Top-Down Culture: Disruptive Innovation: One Organization’s “Lessons Learned” in Gaining Stakeholder Acceptance”. Nurse Leader. 17 (4): 360–364.
Driskill, Gerald W.; Brenton, Angela Laird (2019). “Organizational Culture in Action: A Cultural Analysis Workbook.” New York: Routledge, pp. 22-27.
Ertem-Eray, T. (2021), “Addressing Corporate Social Responsibility in Corporations: a content analysis of Amazon’s and Walmart’s websites”, Corporate Communications: An International Journal, 26 (3); 461-483.
Herzberg, F. (1964). The Motivation-hygiene Concept and Problems of Manpower. Personnel Administration, 27 (1), 3–7.
Holt, H. L. (2018), “A Practitioner Review of Technological Firms’ Success in Corporate Innovation”, Kuratko, D.F. and Hoskinson, S. (Ed.) The Challenges of Corporate Entrepreneurship in the Disruptive Age (Advances in the Study of Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Economic Growth, Vol. 28), Emerald Publishing Limited, Bingley, pp. 163-181.
Jathol, B.A. and Rüling, C.-C. (2019), “Temporary Incorporation as a Mechanism of Strategic Responsiveness: The BBC’s Digital Transformation, 1992–2015”, Andersen, T.J., Torp, S. and Linder, S. (Ed.) Strategic Responsiveness and Adaptive Organizations: New Research Frontiers in International Strategic Management (Emerald Studies in Global Strategic Responsiveness), Emerald Publishing Limited, Bingley, pp. 111-124.
Kwarteng, A. and Aveh, F. (2018), “Empirical Examination of Organizational Culture on Accounting Information System and Corporate Performance: Evidence from a Developing Country Perspective”, Meditari Accountancy Research, Vol. 26 No. 4, pp. 675-698.
Lee, C.C., Lim, H.S., Seo, D.(J). and Kwak, D.-H.A. (2022), “Examining employee retention and motivation: the moderating effect of employee generation”, Evidence-based HRM, Vol. 10 No. 4, pp. 385-402.
Lindhult, E. and Axelsson, K. (2021), “The logic and integration of coproductive research approaches”, International Journal of Managing Projects in Business, Vol. 14 No. 1, pp. 13-35.
Lloyd, M. (2020), “Examining Domestic Violence and Abuse in Mainstream and Social Media: Representations and Responses”, Ramon, S., Lloyd, M. and Penhale, B. (Ed.) Gendered Domestic Violence and Abuse in Popular Culture (Emerald Studies in Popular Culture and Gender), Emerald Publishing Limited, Bingley, pp. 33-60.
Lobrij, M.-F., Kaptein, M. and Lückerath-Rovers, M. (2020), “What National Governance Codes Say About Corporate Culture”, Corporate Governance, Vol. 20 No. 5, pp. 903-917.
McClelland, D. (1961) “Theory of Needs. http://www.12manage.com/methods_mcclelland_theory_of_needs.html
Mergen, A. & Ozbilgin, M. (2021), “Toxic Illusion in the Global Value Chain: The Case of Amazon”, Camgöz, S.M. and Ekmekci, Ö.T. (Ed.) Destructive Leadership and Management Hypocrisy, Emerald Publishing Limited, Bingley, pp. 163-178.
Möller, M., Dupré, K. & Fernando, R. (2022), “Seeking Elsewhere: A Systematic Review of Literature Surrounding Attrition and Retention of Female Architects in the Profession Post-registration”, Archnet-IJAR, 16 (2); 322-338.
Mozaffari, F., Rahimi, M., Yazdani, H. and Sohrabi, B. (2022), “Employee Attrition Prediction in a Pharmaceutical Company Using Both Machine Learning Approach and Qualitative Data”, Benchmarking: An International Journal, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print.
Newman, J. S. and Wander, S. M. (2018), “System Failure Case Studies”, Harnessing the Power of Failure: Using Storytelling and Systems Engineering to Enhance Organizational Learning, Emerald Publishing Limited, Bingley, pp. 7-132.
Patnaik, S. and Pandey, S.C. (2019), “Case Study Research”, Subudhi, R.N. and Mishra, S. (Ed.) Methodological Issues in Management Research: Advances, Challenges, and the Way Ahead, Emerald Publishing Limited, Bingley, pp. 163-179.
Rynarzewska, A.I. (2019), “It’s Not Fake, It’s Biased: Insights into Morality of Incentivized Reviewers”, Journal of Consumer Marketing, 36 (3); 401-409.
Scott, K. (2017). Attracting and retaining the right talent. McKinsey. Available Online: https://tinyurl.com/4ncuddsv
Smyrnaios, N. (2018), “The Conditions Leading to the Emergence of the Internet Oligopoly”, Internet Oligopoly (Digital Activism and Society: Politics, Economy and Culture in Network Communication), Emerald Publishing Limited, Bingley, pp. 55-81.
Sull, Sull & Chamberlain (2019). Measuring Culture in Leading Companies. MITSloan Management Review. Available Online: https://sloanreview.mit.edu/projects/measuring-culture-in-leading-companies/
Tkachenko, O., Seo, J. and Ardichvili, A. (2022), “Case study research in HRD: a review of trends and call for advancement”, European Journal of Training and Development, Vol. 46 No. 7/8, pp. 693-708.
Usherwood, B. and Usherwood, M. (2021), “Culture wars, libraries and the BBC”, Library Management, Vol. 42 No. 4/5, pp. 291-301.
Uyar, A., Kilic, M. and Kuzey, C. (2022), “Investigating the role of national culture on integrated report assurance: international evidence”, Management Decision, 60 (7); 1875-1904.
Valtakoski, A. (2020), “The evolution and impact of qualitative research in Journal of Services Marketing”, Journal of Services Marketing, Vol. 34 No. 1, pp. 8-23.
Xu, X., Lin, C. and Duan, L. (2022), “Does hierarchical ranking matter to corporate innovation efficiency? An empirical study based on a corporate culture of seniority”, Chinese Management Studies, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print.
Yeganeh, H. (2020), “Salient cultural transformations in the age of globalization: implications for business and management”, International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, Vol. 40 No. 7/8, pp. 695-712.