Exploring the factors that influence employees’ perceptions of their organisation’s culture

The topic of organisational culture is of significant interest in the management literature since culture is so closely tied to organisational identity and work processes. Culture is usually measured as a set of shared symbols, values, and artifacts across an organisation. However, few studies have attempted to determine if cultures are indeed truly shared. This study addresses this issue by examining cultural perceptions of employees to see whether their perceptions vary by demographic characteristics and/or across organisational units. The site of the study is one of the major companies in the long‐term health‐care industry. Using ten cultural dimensions, significant differences in perceptions were found by organisational unit, the age of the employee, the employee’s gender, and their ethnicity. Interestingly, a much more tenuous relationship between work experiences and cultural beliefs was found. Implications for practice as well as areas for future research are provided.