TITLE:
An Assessment of the Impact of Organizational Culture on Employee Turnover Intention in a Commercial Bank in Zambia
AUTHORS:
Edith Kamana, Fred Tembo, John Lungu, Brian Mubemba
KEYWORDS:
Organizational Culture, Employee Turnover, Motivation, Recognition, Leadership
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Access Library Journal,
Vol.13 No.6,
June
25,
2026
ABSTRACT: This research paper examined the impact of organisational culture on employee turnover intention at selected major commercial bank in Zambia whose turnover had increased by 12 percent in the year 2020 to 16 percent in 2023. The study adopted a mixed-methods approach where 266 employees were interviewed through the use of survey data and 10 key informants were interviewed to determine the effect of communication, leadership, recognition, motivation, and alignment of values on retention. The results of the regression indicated that motivation (β = ?0.176, p = 0.010), recognition (β = ?0.133, p = 0.047) and teamwork were found to have significant negative effects on turnover intentions and explained 30.5 percent of the variance (R2 = 0.305). Cultural differences such as poor communication, poor career development, and uncommitted leadership were identified as the key reasons behind attrition by the qualitative findings. The research reached a conclusion that participative leadership, recognition programmes, and clear career opportunities needed to be reinforced in order to enhance culture and retention. Though cross-sectional and single-case based, the study provided context specific findings to the literature of organisational culture in the banking industry of Zambia and provided viable solutions to the improvement of employee engagement.