Towards an industry-tailored management approach: A study of retail employee attitudes

Abstract

The ubiquity of retail employment makes it one of the most important sectors in the economy but economic downturn, foreign competition, and looming technological developments threaten to diminish the employment opportunities it offers. In consideration of the workforce- related adjustments that retail businesses are likely to experience from changes in the sector, this study examines attitudinal differences between retail employees and the general workforce. The theoretical perspective of this study is that employees from different industries have unique attitudes toward the work environment, given industry-specific environmental and situational influences. The empirical analysis uses data obtained from a survey of over 6000 Australian workers to test attitudinal work environment variables between retail employees and non-retail employees. The findings reveal that retail employee attitudes are dissimilar from that of the general workforce, which implies that employee attitudinal profiles differ between industries, and general management programmes and practices should therefore be tailored accordingly.