Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

The relationship between learning capability and organizational performance A meta‐analytic examination

The relationship between learning capability and organizational performance A meta‐analytic... Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present a meta‐analysis of a subset of published empirical research papers that measure learning capability and link it to organizational performance. It also seeks to examine both financial and non‐financial performance. Design/methodology/approach – In a search of published research on learning capability and organizational performance, the authors identified 33 articles that met criteria for inclusion in the meta‐analysis. Both objective and perceptual measures of organizational performance were considered to be acceptable. The data were analyzed using the Hunter and Schmidt meta‐analysis software. Findings – The findings support a positive relationship between learning capability and organizational performance, with stronger results for non‐financial than financial performance. This has significant implications for justifying the investment in building a learning capability in organizations. Recommendations for managers are provided, such as the use of learning capability measures and the need to measure performance. Research limitations/implications – The paper discusses the implications of these results for further theory building and development to advance knowledge in the field. This includes addressing the need for new research designs, the issue of causality, potential mediating effects and the impact of context in better understanding this complex relationship. It suggests that research is also needed to increase our understanding of how to effectively build this learning capability. Originality/value – This meta‐analysis provides empirical evidence to support the value of building a learning capability in organizations. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png The Learning Organization Emerald Publishing

The relationship between learning capability and organizational performance A meta‐analytic examination

Download PDF
17 pages

Loading next page...
 
/lp/emerald-publishing/the-relationship-between-learning-capability-and-organizational-Ii1DX7eJjc

References (81)

Publisher
Emerald Publishing
Copyright
Copyright © 2012 Emerald Group Publishing Limited. All rights reserved.
ISSN
0969-6474
DOI
10.1108/09696471211201461
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present a meta‐analysis of a subset of published empirical research papers that measure learning capability and link it to organizational performance. It also seeks to examine both financial and non‐financial performance. Design/methodology/approach – In a search of published research on learning capability and organizational performance, the authors identified 33 articles that met criteria for inclusion in the meta‐analysis. Both objective and perceptual measures of organizational performance were considered to be acceptable. The data were analyzed using the Hunter and Schmidt meta‐analysis software. Findings – The findings support a positive relationship between learning capability and organizational performance, with stronger results for non‐financial than financial performance. This has significant implications for justifying the investment in building a learning capability in organizations. Recommendations for managers are provided, such as the use of learning capability measures and the need to measure performance. Research limitations/implications – The paper discusses the implications of these results for further theory building and development to advance knowledge in the field. This includes addressing the need for new research designs, the issue of causality, potential mediating effects and the impact of context in better understanding this complex relationship. It suggests that research is also needed to increase our understanding of how to effectively build this learning capability. Originality/value – This meta‐analysis provides empirical evidence to support the value of building a learning capability in organizations.

Journal

The Learning Organization – Emerald Publishing

Published: Mar 2, 2012

Keywords: Learning capability; Performance; Meta‐analysis; Learning processes; Organizational performance

There are no references for this article.