The Effect of Organizational Culture as A Mediator between Management Practices and Job Performance in Sharjah Government Entities

This study examines the effect of management practices on job performance in Sharjah government entities, with organisational culture as a mediating variable. Despite federal initiatives such as the UAE Government Excellence Program and Vision 2031, performance disparities persist across emirates, with Sharjah reporting only 62% citizen satisfaction compared to Dubai's 85% in 2023, though entities like Sharjah Police demonstrate excellence with 98% satisfaction. Grounded in an integrated theoretical framework combining the Resource-Based View and Organisational Culture Theory, this quantitative study employed a survey-based design with data collected from 300 employees selected through simple random sampling from Sharjah Customs. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLSSEM) was used to test the hypothesized relationships. The findings confirmed that management practices significantly influence job performance (β = 0.695, p < 0.001) and organisational culture (β = 0.364, p < 0.001). Organisational culture significantly affected job performance (β = 0.235, p < 0.001) and partially mediated the management practices-performance relationship (indirect effect = 0.085, p < 0.001), accounting for 10.9% of the total effect. The model explained 65.6% of the variance in job performance and 13.3% in organisational culture. The study contributes theoretically by extending the Resource-Based View to the UAE public sector and demonstrating how organisational culture operates as a transmission mechanism translating managerial inputs into performance outcomes. Practically, the findings provide evidence-based insights for policymakers in Sharjah to strengthen management development programs and cultivate supportive organisational cultures to bridge the service delivery gap with other emirates.