Beyond the Aggregate Score: A Dimension-Level Assessment of Quality of Work Life, Commitment, and Culture Among UAE Public Sector Employees

Public sector organizations often rely on a single composite score to summarize employee survey results. But an aggregate figure can hide which specific parts of the work experience actually need attention. This study addresses that problem directly. It profiles quality of work life, organizational commitment, organizational culture, and job satisfaction at the level of individual dimensions, using data from 412 employees of a UAE public sector ministry. The data came from a structured questionnaire administered across three departments in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and Sharjah, with a 98 percent response rate. Rather than testing relationships between constructs, the study examines where this workforce currently stands on each dimension. For every dimension, the mean, standard deviation, and a qualitative level were calculated, then ranked from strongest to weakest to identify concrete priorities for intervention. All four constructs sit at a moderate overall level. This picture hides real variation underneath. Within quality of work life, respect for law and work influence were the weakest dimensions. Both fell well below the moderate range, 1.30 points behind the strongest dimension, capacity. Within organizational commitment, normative commitment was markedly weaker than affective commitment. Within organizational culture, involvement lagged behind consistency, adaptability, and mission, though the gap here was narrower. An aggregate score alone would have hidden these specific, actionable gaps. The weakest dimensions found here also match independent literature on employee voice and work-life balance in similar public sector settings. This study argues that dimension-level diagnostic reporting should complement relationship-testing research, not replace it. It gives UAE public sector decision makers a concrete, ranked basis for sequencing workforce interventions, rather than a generic call to improve conditions broadly.

quality of work life; organizational commitment; organizational culture; job satisfaction; public sector diagnostics

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