The Impact of Organisational Culture on Turnover Intentions among Lecturers in Tanzania’s Public Universities

Abstract

Tanzania’s public universities have been grappling with an unanticipated turnover of lecturers, a phenomenon that exerts adverse impacts on institutional operations. Empirical evidence suggests that organisational culture significantly influences employee turnover intentions, thus holding the potential to mitigate the departure of lecturers from these academic institutions. This study aims to investigate the correlation between organisational culture and employee turnover intentions among lecturers in Tanzania’s public universities, drawing upon evidence from the context. Guided by the social exchange theory, the study employs a quantitative approach, utilising questionnaires to procure data from two prominent public universities: Mzumbe University and Moshi Co-operative University. The sample comprises 221 lecturers selected through a simple random technique. Both descriptive and inferential analyses were employed for data evaluation. The findings underscore that clan culture, hierarchy culture, adhocracy culture, and market culture exert significant and negative influences on turnover intentions when examined as individual variables. Moreover, employing a multiple regression model, the study establishes a negative correlation between organisational culture and turnover intentions. Consequently, the study concludes that organisational culture can effectively diminish turnover intentions within the cadre of lecturers in Tanzania’s public universities.