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 learningorganization cultural aspects and knowledge creation process as they relate to determinations ofthe perceived organizational performance improvement in the Korean context.Dimensions of the learning organization and knowledge creation process-- SECIknowledge conversion theory -- have been adapted, and are the independent variables; the levelsof organizational financial increase and the intensity of organizational knowledge gain areexplored as dependent variables.Data were collected from five different types of businesses in the Korean conglomeratethrough the in-house intranet on-line self-response questionnaire. All measures were translatedinto the Korean language using several validation processes. Collected data were analyzed byusing 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 theconstructs, and (c) structural equation model analysis. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) anditem consistency analysis were conducted to assess the measurement model fit to the collecteddata and construct validity based on several types of model fit indices. Multiple regression andcanonical correlation analysis (CCA) were conducted to measure the associations among thevariables and variable sets. Structural equation model (SEM) analysis was performed to comparethe alternative models with the structural pathways among the constructs. In addition, shortanswer responses were analyzed.The results presented that (a) hypothesized measurement models are valid and reliable inthe Korean context, (b) the proposed three constructs are statistically correlated with each other,(c) the learning organization culture has significant impact on the organizational knowledgeivcreation and perceived performance improvement, (d) the knowledge creation process has apositive influence on the perceived performance improvement, (e) both independent variableshave greater impacts on perceived organizational knowledge gaining than financial performancein separate regression analyses, (f) in the SEM approach, proximal factors of knowledge creationhas the same amount of influence on both types of performance while the distal factors of thelearning organization culture were not controlled. In brief, all of hypotheses were positivelysupported. Further, short answer responses suggest that individuals task-related readiness,emotional-related interpersonal trust, and CEOs supportive mind-set could be considered asimportant factors for creating learning organization; and for encouraging dynamic knowledgecreation practices, easy-access knowledge repository system, and task-related competency andexpertises need to be considered.A conclusive summary is provided along with contributive discussion. Implications andcontributions to HRD academic researchers and practitioners are discussed, and recommendationsare offered. Also included are conclusive final thoughts accompanied by the limitations of thisstudy.