An assessment of organisational culture in Australian hospitals using employee online reviews

PLoS One. 2022 Sep 14;17(9):e0274074. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0274074. eCollection 2022.

Abstract

The aim of this study was to analyse the content of online reviews posted by hospital employees on job websites for themes of organisational culture. 103 anonymous online reviews across three job websites, posted by hospital employees of four hospitals within an Australian health network were extracted. Reviews had been posted across a period of six years, from 2014 to early 2020. Sentiment rating based on user-allotted ratings on the selected websites was calculated. The sentiment score was validated against the textual content of the review to confirm employee recommendation and sentiment. Sentiment was coded as neutral, positive, or negative. Significant keywords, associations, and usage within the context of identified sentiment were deductively coded and clustered manually against eight pre-determined safety culture themes. These themes were derived from the most used assessment tools for self-reported measures of occupational health and safety, and safety culture in healthcare. Workers across clinical roles (n = 49) and non-clinical roles (n = 50) were evenly represented in the dataset. 35.9% of commenters (n = 37) reported their length of employment in the hospitals that they reviewed. Most online employee reviews addressed broad themes related to perceptions of management (n = 98), safety climate (n = 97), teamwork climate (n = 91) and working conditions (n = 98). A significant set of reviews addressed themes related to job satisfaction (n = 49) and learning, training, and development (n = 41). 72.8% of online reviews (n = 75) expressed positive sentiment towards their employer. Reviews expressing negative sentiment were largely posted by former employees and indicated areas of discontent that reflected organisational and systemic factors. Online employee reviews posted by hospital workers on job sites provide valuable insights into healthcare organisational culture. Therefore, employee online reviews could be used as a supplementary source of data to inform organisational employee engagement initiatives.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Australia
  • Hospitals
  • Humans
  • Job Satisfaction
  • Organizational Culture*
  • Safety Management*

Grants and funding

This research was supported by the Research Training Program (RTP) scholarship allocation number 2018378/ 20191504 received by AP. The scholarship is offered by the Australian Government and administered by Macquarie University. The funder had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.