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Du, X, 2024. Impact of culture and leadership on employee wellbeing in SME health services: cases of TCM in China and the UK. PhD, Nottingham Trent University.
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Abstract
Employee wellbeing has been increasingly gaining interest from both academia and practice. Most research on employee wellbeing were conducted in the contexts of large organisations. There is still limited research on employee wellbeing in SME health services, especially in the cross-culture context. Culture has impact on employee wellbeing and so does leadership. The research objectives are to have better understanding of employee wellbeing and gain insight into the impact of culture and leadership on employee wellbeing by studying SME health services of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) in China and the UK. This research is of value to both academics and practitioners. It can be used by academics to deepen an understanding of employee wellbeing in SME health services, which will help advance the field. In practice, the research identified leaders’ actions that contributed to employee wellbeing, it can also be used by leaders to better understand employee wellbeing and take action to improve employee wellbeing.
This research takes an interpretivist approach and case studies including four cases of TCM, two located in Beijing in China and two in London in the UK. Data was collected through 24 online video semi-structured interviews with leaders and employees of the clinics. Interviews were conducted in both Chinese and English, each interview was recorded and lasted between 45-90 mins. Interview materials were transcribed and translated into English content analysis was utilised for material analysis.
This research makes several contributions to the existing literature. First, it extends the understanding of employee wellbeing and its variation in different cultural contexts from perspectives of employees and leaders. Moreover, this research reveals the significance of hedonic and eudemonic benefits to employee wellbeing in SME health services sector, provide elements belonging to hedonic and eudemonic aspects from perspectives of leaders and employees in cross-cultural contexts. The research introduces a definition of employee wellbeing that consists of hedonic and eudemonic benefits. Second, the research shows that the degree of cultural impact on employee wellbeing differs in different cultural contexts. Third, culture impact on leadership based on Hofstede’s cultural theory from employee wellbeing perspective shows that the power distance and collectivism impact more on leadership styles and leader actions in China, while the individualism influences more on leadership styles and leader actions in the UK. By applied Hall’s theory, high context communication appears to be more influential in the cases located in China than the ones in the UK, while low context communication has more impact in the UK than China. Fourth, the research demonstrates different degrees of leadership’s effect on employee wellbeing in different cultural contexts. Finally, the research reveals the significance of certain leader actions in positively impacting employee wellbeing in both China and the UK and contributes to a new model of employee wellbeing. These contribute to improving employee wellbeing, not only helping to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goal No.3 to promote wellbeing, but also contributing to healthcare organisations with their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) development.
| Item Type: | Thesis |
|---|---|
| Creators: | Du, X. |
| Contributors: | Name Role NTU ID ORCID |
| Date: | December 2024 |
| Rights: | The copyright in this work is held by the author. You may copy up to 5% of this work for private study, or personal, non-commercial research. Any re-use of the information contained within this document should be fully referenced, quoting the author, title, university, degree level and pagination. Queries or requests for any other use, or if a more substantial copy is required, should be directed to the author. |
| Divisions: | Schools > Nottingham Business School |
| Record created by: | Jeremy Silvester |
| Date Added: | 11 Jul 2025 14:57 |
| Last Modified: | 11 Jul 2025 14:57 |
| URI: | https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/53943 |
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