Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has forced the UK’s Banking and Financial Services sector (UKBF) to adapt in several ways. Economic and societal challenges have accelerated digital transformation, prompting employees to adopt new ways of working within organisations. Amidst these major cultural and structural changes, organisations within the UKBF are becoming increasingly concerned about how they can both keep and engage their best. Such concerns manifest in an era that has seen the widespread, unprecedented, implementation of remote and hybrid working arrangements.Still, while this concern is apparent through industry reports and statistics, a clear lack of academic literature penetrates the UKBF with respect how both talent retention (TR) and employee engagement (EE) are realised in the contexts of remote and hybrid working. Instead, much of the academic discourse situated in the UKBF was written before the pandemic, focusing on different issues. To address this problem, the researcher conducted a literature review, identifying three potential factors that could help organisations within the UKBF both retain and engage their talent in the post COVID-19 era. The three proposed antecedents are the e-working experience (EWL), organisational culture (OC), and job embeddedness (JE).
Using a pragmatist research philosophy, the researcher employed a mixed methods convergent parallel design to examine how these antecedents influence EE and TR, with JE playing a mediating role in both phases. The Social Exchange Theory (SET) served as the theoretical lens in this thesis, explaining the relationships between TR, EE, and their proposed antecedents. Aligning with emerging workforce trends within the UKBF, the researcher focused on remote and hybrid talent specifically, examining the similarities and differences between them.
The quantitative phase surveyed remote and hybrid talent in the UKBF, resulting in a final sample of 305 participants. Data was analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM), with the proposed model showing moderate to high predictive power and full measurement invariance. Full measurement invariance allowed for comparisons between complete, remote, and hybrid groups through the PLS-SEM Multi-Group Analysis (MGA). In the qualitative phase, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 participants, comprising of seven hybrid workers and three remote workers. Template analysis (King and Brooks, 2017) was applied to analyse the qualitative data and both datasets were integrated through the joint-display approach (Creswell and Plano Clark, 2018).
Findings from both phases indicated that a positive EWL creates the conditions for increased JE, EE, and intention to stay (ITS) amongst remote and hybrid talent. Demonstrating that the experience of, and the ability to work flexibly are important for securing talents attachment. The MGA revealed no significant differences between remote and hybrid talent with respect to the relationship between the EWL and the attachment attitudes (JE, EE, ITS) specified in this thesis. Signalling that both remote and hybrid talent alike draw on the EWL as an exchange mechanism for heightened attachment.
OC, whether through flexible or control-oriented typologies (Cameron and Quinn, 2006) influenced JE and EE in distinct ways, which were mostly dependent on the type of working arrangement. For example, the relationship between flexible cultures and EE was significant for hybrid talent, whereas it was control cultures that drove EE for remote talent. However, OC’s direct impact on ITS was minimal across both quantitative and qualitative phases. Indicating that OC alone may not be enough to secure talents retention, as talent rely on other factors beyond a satisfactory culture.
An example this was found to be JE itself, as JE emerged as the strongest predictor of ITS for both remote and hybrid talent. JE played a dual role in this thesis, serving as both a mediator and a predictor of ITS and EE in the quantitative phase. The quantitative phase revealed that JE fully mediated the relationship between both flexible and control orientated cultures and ITS for remote talent, but this relationship was non-significant for hybrid talent. Even still, both datasets exhibited a high degree of convergence, with their being minimal discrepancies between datasets. Taken together, the PLS-SEM MGA and the integrative theme ‘The Dichotomy of FWA’ show that, although remote and hybrid talent experience flexible working in different ways, in most cases, both are equally as effective when it comes to securing talents retention and engagement.
The results make theoretical and contextual contributions by advancing the theories of the SET, Competing Values Framework (CVF) and JE into the dual contexts of the UKBF and post COVID-19 era. Demonstrating that a satisfactory EWL and a combination of cultural typologies can further attach talent through the SET. This thesis is the first to integrate traditional theories such as the SET, CVF and JE into a single conceptual framework and extend this into new contexts, demonstrating their applicability in today’s era, where the distance between an organisation and their talent grows wider.
Methodologically, this thesis is among the first to operationalise the EWL as a holistic construct and establish its relationship with attachment attitudes across remote and hybrid contexts. An emphasis on the experience of working flexibly, as well as its provision, is another key contribution this thesis makes, offering new insights that provide a multi-faceted perspective on flexible working arrangements. Furthermore, the findings suggest that OC manifests differently across remote and hybrid contexts, influencing talents JE and EE differently, an area that is largely unexplored in research that pertains to the UKBF. It should also be stressed that this thesis is the first to explicitly compare and contrast talent’s experiences of remote and hybrid working in the UKBF under a mixed methods methodology. Overall, the findings provide a practical framework for organisations within the UKBF who want to enhance their talents attachment in the COVID-19 era. Emphasising the importance of providing a satisfactory experience of working flexibly, a holistic OC and an environment conducive towards JE as three viable ways to attach talent.
| Date of Award | 24 Jun 2026 |
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| Original language | English |
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| Supervisor | Xiaoxian Zhu (Supervisor), Kris Costello (Supervisor) & Jennifer Hagan (Supervisor) |