A Meta-Analysis Linking Organizational Learning Culture, Performance, Innovation, and Job Attitudes

Abstract

Both management scholars and practitioners agree that organizations need to continuously learn as a response to ongoing changes in the business environment, and that an organizational learning culture (OLC) is critical in this endeavor. Yet, creating an OLC is a time- and resource-intensive endeavor, whose return on investment is not certain; evidence on the OLC-performance link is scattered across a range of academic domains, industries, cultural contexts, and measurements. Building on the resource-based view of the firm and the competing values framework, this study synthesizes extant evidence on the link between OLC and organizational performance, innovation, and performance-related work attitudes. Meta-analyses of 86 studies and 223 effect sizes with a cumulative N = 43,232 reveal that OLC is positively related to all outcomes, explaining 12% of variance in organizational performance, 20% of innovation, 24% of job satisfaction, 22% of organizational commitment, and 8% of turnover intentions, statistically significant effect sizes that are characterized by high levels of heterogeneity. These findings provide coherent evidence on the value of investing in an OLC, resulting in managerial and research implications.