Organisational culture and financial performance in a South African investment bank

Abstract

The relationship between the organisational culture and financial performance of a South African investment bank was explored in this study. The Denison Organizational Culture Survey was used to measure the organisational culture and was administered to a sample of 327 employees. Income statement ratio analyses were used to assess the financial performance. The validity and reliability of the Denison Organizational Culture Survey was examined in a South African context for the first time. High correlations between the cultural traits suggested that the items were measuring a single trait rather than four distinguishable traits. Correlations above the 0.50 level between some subscales (team orientation, agreement, customer focus, core values and vision) and certain financial ratios were obtained. However, the results were regarded as tentative, because statistical significance was not reached for most of the correlations. The cultural trait consistency was significantly correlated with two of the four profitability ratios.