Does Organizational Learning Affect R&D Engineers’ Creativity?

Abstract

R&D engineers are viewed as the vital source of creativity and innovation for the companies to improve its business values, in particular in the original design manufacturer (ODM) companies. In order to promote R&D engineers’ creativity within the organization, organizational learning is viewed to be well shaped to enhance creativity of the engineers. Therefore, this study aims to determine the effect of perceived organizational learning towards the research and development (R&D) engineers’ creativity in the ODM companies in Malaysia. The perceived organizational learning was conceptualized into four dimensions of managerial commitment, systems perspective, openness and experimentation, and knowledge transfer and integration. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was employed to test the model using SMART-PLS version 2.0 package, drawing on a sample of 140 R&D engineers working in the ODM companies in Malaysia. Data analysis revealed that, all four dimensions of organizational learning contribute the significant impact on R&D engineers’ creativity. The results offer a number of suggestions to ODM firms in Malaysia. Specifically, organization can establish a platform to enable its R&D engineers to acquire, exchange and apply knowledge within the team or even organization. In doing so, the employees can utilise the knowledge to create new solutions, improve efficiency and solve issues encountered in the organization and this definitely will increase the R&D engineers’ creativity.