1. Culture and Performance: A Learning Orientation for the Financial Sector.
- Author
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Jiménez-Jiménez, Daniel, Fernández-Gil, Juan R., and Martínez-Costa, Micaela
- Abstract
This paper highlights the importance of a learning orientation for improving organizational performance in banks, which are important companies in the economy of any country. Companies in the financial sector have experienced many environmental changes in this decade. The financial crisis has broken the traditional businesses of this sector and the sector has been forced to look for new ways to survive. Organizational learning is considered as powerful key for improving the development of people (it enhances their skills, capacities and skills) and organizations (it promotes quality in the development of the activities, improves customer service, and increases in communication among employees). Organizational learning is also related to a learning culture. On the one hand, organizational culture can be a driving element of organizational learning. A culture that supports organizational learning must foster the exchange of knowledge across the enterprise, promoting processes of knowledge management. On the other hand, organizational culture has an indirect influence on organizational learning through the organization's employees. Employees who are committed to learning will tend to transfer more knowledge in different situations, such as when they support decision-making or when they possess knowledge that can be useful for the organization. The results of an investigation with 238 employees from 81 entities of one important Spanish bank are reported, using a structural equation model, to show how a learning culture is related to organizational learning and performance. In addition, we found evidence of the mediating role of knowledge commitment and learning transfer in the relationship between learning culture and organizational learning. Important conclusions and implications are derived from these results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2014