The effects of employee turnover on the loss of organisational knowledge in South African municipalities Balancing rhetoric with actual practice

Yanelisa Ndatshe, Mosekama Osia Mokhele and Amina Jakoet-Salie
Additional contact information
Yanelisa Ndatshe: Nelson Mandela University
Mosekama Osia Mokhele: Nelson Mandela University
Amina Jakoet-Salie: Nelson Mandela University

International Journal of Research in Business and Social Science (2147-4478), 2024, vol. 13, issue 7, 204-221

Abstract: Employee turnover poses a significant challenge for South African municipalities, particularly for retaining tacit organisational knowledge. Therefore, this study assessed how employee turnover impacts organisational tacit knowledge retention in South African municipalities. The study uses secondary data analysis to examine employee turnover in critical positions in various municipalities in South Africa, such as senior management and those earmarked as scarce skills. The findings of this study show that employee turnover significantly negatively impacts tacit organisational knowledge. The findings further revealed that turnover exacerbates the retention of the organisational knowledge gap within municipalities, often leading to diminished service quality and increased operational costs such as recruitment and use of service consultants. Furthermore, the study highlights the gap between rhetoric (policies) and actual practice (implementation) in addressing the issues of service quality and operational costs, noting that existing retention strategies and knowledge management approaches often need to be revised. Questioning the effectiveness of retention strategies, the paper suggests that municipalities require more proactive and innovative approaches to manage turnover and organisational tactical knowledge retention to enhance public service delivery continuity and organisational sustainability. Furthermore, municipalities should integrate retention strategies such as succession planning, continuous training, leadership, and mentorship programmes into a broader municipal governance framework. Key Words:Employee turnover, Organisational knowledge, municipalities, service delivery, South Africa

Date: 2024
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://ssbfnet.com/ojs/index.php/ijrbs/article/view/3673/2527 (application/pdf)
https://doi.org/10.20525/ijrbs.v13i7.3673 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:rbs:ijbrss:v:13:y:2024:i:7:p:204-221

Access Statistics for this article

International Journal of Research in Business and Social Science (2147-4478) is currently edited by Prof.Dr.Umit Hacioglu

More articles in International Journal of Research in Business and Social Science (2147-4478) from Center for the Strategic Studies in Business and Finance Editorial Office,Baris Mah. Enver Adakan Cd. No: 5/8, Beylikduzu, Istanbul, Turkey. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Umit Hacioglu ().