The integrative determinants of organizational performance improvement: The impacts of dimensions of learning organization and dynamic knowledge creation

The purpose of this study is to identify the structural pathways of the learning organization cultural aspects and knowledge creation process as they relate to determinations of the perceived organizational performance improvement in the Korean context.;Dimensions of the learning organization and knowledge creation process--- SECI knowledge conversion theory---have been adapted, and are the independent variables; the levels of organizational financial increase and the intensity of organizational knowledge gain are explored as dependent variables.;Data were collected from five different types of businesses in the Korean conglomerate through the in-house intranet on-line self-response questionnaire. All measures were translated into the Korean language using several validation processes. Collected data were analyzed by using two statistical packages, SPSS 16.0 and LISREL 8.80.;Basically, three analyses were conducted in order to prove the given hypotheses: (a) hypothesized measurement model fit, (b) relational and influential associations among the constructs, and (c) structural equation model analysis. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and item consistency analysis were conducted to assess the measurement model fit to the collected data and construct validity based on several types of model fit indices. Multiple regression and canonical correlation analysis (CCA) were conducted to measure the associations among the variables and variable sets. Structural equation model (SEM) analysis was performed to compare the alternative models with the structural pathways among the constructs. In addition, short answer responses were analyzed.;The results presented that (a) hypothesized measurement models are valid and reliable in the Korean context, (b) the proposed three constructs are statistically correlated with each other, (c) the learning organization culture has significant impact on the organizational knowledge creation and perceived performance improvement, (d) the knowledge creation process has a positive influence on the perceived performance improvement, (e) both independent variables have greater impacts on perceived organizational knowledge gaining than financial performance in separate regression analyses, (f) in the SEM approach, proximal factors of knowledge creation has the same amount of influence on both types of performance while the distal factors of the learning organization culture were not controlled. In brief, all of hypotheses were positively supported. Further, short answer responses suggest that individuals' task-related readiness, emotional-related interpersonal trust, and CEO's supportive mind-set could be considered as important factors for creating learning organization; and for encouraging dynamic knowledge creation practices, easy-access knowledge repository system, and task-related competency and expertises need to be considered.;A conclusive summary is provided along with contributive discussion. Implications and contributions to HRD academic researchers and practitioners are discussed, and recommendations are offered. Also included are conclusive final thoughts accompanied by the limitations of this study.