Investigating Patient attitudes towards quality of service management in the Public Health Service Sector: Evidence from Saudi Arabia

Abstract

An investigative study was made of the impact of organisational culture on employee satisfaction in the health care sector in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. A concurrent mixed methods research design was adopted in which a survey and interviews were carried out among employees at the National Guard Hospital. The sample of 150 survey participants comprising mostly of female non-Saudi employees revealed an overall agreement with most of the ten selected aspects of organisational culture and employee satisfaction. The two variables were also found to be highly correlated (r=0.945) with high perceptions of organisational culture associated with high levels of employee satisfaction. The study therefore lends strong support to the possibility of organisational culture being a key determinant of employee satisfaction. It was also found that the main problems that affect employee satisfaction are heavy workload, unequal pay between native and foreign nurses, and lack of communication, and recommendations were made to address these. The interviews also revealed the need for improved cultural understanding. Organisational culture is therefore an important construct that shapes the working conditions and environment, so attention to improving the perception of organisational culture is of paramount importance for improving the conditions and ensuring employee satisfaction.