Employees' perception toward the dimension of culture in enhancing organizational learning

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to determine employees' perception of the dimension of culture toward organizational learning readiness. The study also seeks to compare employees' work experience (longevity), work shifts and their perception toward the dimension of culture in enhancing organizational learning readiness.

Design/methodology/approach

A questionnaire was administered to 150 employees of a manufacturing enterprise. ANOVA was utilized to investigate the relationship between longevity, work shift, and perception toward the dimension of culture in enhancing organizational learning. To determine which of the work shifts had a significant relationship with the dependent variable employees' perception toward the dimension of culture in enhancing organizational learning, a posteriori contrasts were established.

Findings

The independent variables longevity and work shift were statistically significant, while the interaction effect was nonsignificant. Omega‐squared test statistic revealed longevity and work shift each accounted for 9 percent and 7 percent, respectively of the variance in the dependent variable employee perception toward the dimension of culture in enhancing organizational learning. Moderate effect sizes for independent variables longevity and work shift were also established.

Research limitations/implications

The application of the results of this study is limited to the one small business enterprise that participated in this study and cannot be generalized to other similar organizations. But the findings are important since they reveal that employees' work experience and work shifts make a difference when compared to the participants' perception toward the dimension of culture in enhancing organizational learning readiness of the small business enterprise studied.

Practical implications

Findings of this study show that it is important to determine the perceptions of employees toward the dimension of culture in enhancing organizational learning readiness. In addition, managers of this small business enterprise should find the results of this study useful in designing work shifts intended to promote organizational learning practices. Emphasis should be directed towards shift interface issues, knowledge dissemination, and evaluation.

Originality/value

Organizational learning has been well researched in large business enterprises. However, limited research in small business enterprises exists. This study set out to determine the employees' perception of the dimension of culture in enhancing learning readiness in a small business enterprise.

Citation

Graham, C.M. and Muyia Nafukho, F. (2007), "Employees' perception toward the dimension of culture in enhancing organizational learning", The Learning Organization, Vol. 14 No. 3, pp. 281-292. https://doi.org/10.1108/09696470710739435