Abstract
The higher education sector faces considerable competition around the world. Accordingly, universities need to make more efforts to increase their competitive advantages. This study aimed to empirically investigate the effect of organizational innovation (OI), knowledge management (KM), and strategic human resource management (SHRM), with a dependent variable of sustainable competitive advantages (SCAs), at Jordanian Universities. For this aim, a specially designed questionnaire has been distributed to study a convenience sample of 400 academic and administrative staff at Jordanian private and public universities, to obtain the required quantitative data. The study’s hypotheses were verified by Baron and Kenny’s mediation regression approach using the software Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). The results of the study demonstrate that there is a significant positive relationship between the following pairs of variables: KM and SCA; SHRM and SCA; SHRM and OI; KM and OI; and OI and SCA, whereas OI was found to have a partial and indirect significant mediation impact on the direct relationship between KM and SHRM and universities (organizations) gaining SCAs. Finally, it was concluded that more attention needs to be paid to the OI aspect in organizations and to integrate it with KM and SHRM in a way that promotes SCAs. In addition, we propose that similar studies should be conducted in industries other than education or the education sector in different countries in a way that obtains generalized and representative results.
Highlights
In order to descriptively identify the presence and degree of availability for Knowledge Management (KM), Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM), Organizational Innovation (OI) and sustainable competitive advantages (SCAs) in Jordanian universities, the descriptive statistics of responses and their rank obtained using a five-point Likert scale calculated via Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software were used, where means ranging from 1 to 1.80 were reflected as very low; those from 1.81 to 2.60 were reflected as low; means from 2.61 to 3.40 were reflected as moderate; scores from 3.41 to 4.20 were reflected as high; and those from 4.21 to 5.00 were reflected as extremely high
The results revealed that the both SHRM and KM variables have a significant and positive effect on OI, confirming the findings of previous studies, which indicated that SHRM supports the processes of knowledge creation, sharing and use, by selecting the right worker in the right job with the appropriate skills and knowledge required, and motivating employees to innovate and create in their positions, and share knowledge in a way that helps to achieve competitive advantage and high performance [137]
The aim of this research was to investigate the effect of KM and SHRM on SCA in Jordanian universities with an assessment of the mediating role of OI upon this relationship
Summary
One of the areas in which an organization can achieve a competitive advantage is its human resources, which are considered as one of the most important resources of organizations and the source of their success [3]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
