A study of organizational learning as a corporate competency : focusing on the mediate effect between quality management and business performance
Seok Young Oh · Journal of the Korean society for quality management · 2010
This study investigates the relationships of total quality management (TQM), organizational learning (OL) activities and business performance and examines the partial mediation effect of OL activities on business performance in Korean industrial manufacturing setting. Main target sample firms were all manufacturing companies listed in the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) and 206 firms participated. This study theoretically develops a conceptual model with 3 hypotheses regarding how TQM practices influence OL activities and how the OL activities partially mediate between the TQM practices and business performance. To examine these hypotheses, Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was employed and an alternative model which includes a path between errors of leadership factor and OL construct was developed. The findings are TQM practices cannot directly influence business performance but indirectly impact business performance through OL activities. This study found that OL activities playa role as firms' critical competency to improve business performance.