Effect of Organizational Culture on Employee Engagement: Perspectives of University Librarians in Sri Lanka

Organizational culture is widely recognized as a significant factor in establishing a competitive advantage. A highly effective organizational culture fosters greater employee engagement and effectiveness, ultimately resulting in increased productivity. While several prior studies have focused on the link between organizational culture and employee engagement or treated these concepts separately, only few have explored the influence of organizational culture on employee engagement. This study attempted to assess the impact of organizational culture on employee engagement through perspectives of university librarians in Sri Lanka. The population consisted of all library academics in state universities in Sri Lanka and a sample of 100 was drawn using convenience sampling method for data collection. Findings demonstrated that all organizational culture variables, namely clan culture, adhocracy culture, hierarchy culture and market culture had significant positive influences on the employee engagement.
In addition, clan culture was found to be the most important dimension of culture. Study findings can inform the development of strategies to improve employee engagement in libraries, specifically in areas of training and development, creating new roles and responsibilities and maintaining effective information systems. This will ultimately lead to fostering a positive and motivated work environment within the library, contributing to the prosperity and stability of the higher education sector in Sri Lanka.