Graduate employees’ engagement in the cultural sector : a case study of heritage Malta

Abstract

The principal aim of the research was to delve into employee engagement within the local cultural sector, precisely through a case study of Heritage Malta. The main focus of the study was graduate employee engagement; graduates represented 26.4% of the total employees within the organisation. The research was carried out in a qualitative cross sectional manner with a number of individual semi-structured interviews with open ended questions. The research population was made up of 12 participants in total, 3 managers and 9 graduate employees (representing 10% out of a total of 91 graduates within HM). The objectives of the research were to assess whether graduate employees were engaged, to understand the primary motivating factors, to establish an understanding of the organisational culture and to delve into the employee-management relationship. It was established that most graduate employees were neither fully engaged nor actively disengaged. The level of engagement fluctuated according to situations and motivation was generally intrinsic rather than extrinsic. Organisational culture had a deleterious effect on engagement as employees did not feel valued and appreciated given the communication barriers, lack of transparency, fairness and equity of treatment. The research population’s foremost motivators were the identification with HM’s mission on a personal level, the love for cultural heritage, the organisation’s alignment to their academic endeavours, work-life balance and family friendly measures. It transpired that, even though, the outlook on management was positive there were certain professional issues which needed to be addressed and top management needed to adopt a more participative style.