Abstract:

Background: Despite of many qualitative and quantitative studies, the definition of organizational learning remains elusive.However, from psychological perspective organizational learning is a kind of learning process which refers to organizational processes and outcomes. Some authors believe that organizational learning refers to “the process of improving actions through better knowledge and understanding” (Fiol and Lyles, 1985). According to Miller (1996), learning increases organizational learning. In some cases, large organizations use the concept to respond to changes and develop and build new systems (Kanter, 1989; Mogowan ve Madey, 1998; Peters ve Waterman, 1984; Senge, 1990). Some empirical studies in Turkish context indicate the significant relationship between organizational learning and different organizational variables (Günbayı and Akdeniz, 2007; Korkmaz, 2008; Özdayı and Özcan, 2005; Ünal, and Gürsel, 2007). In this study, the relationship between organizational learning and organizational commitment is examined in the Turkish higher education context. Purpose: In this study, how learning organization and its dimensions predict organizational commitment is aimed to be determined. In other words, the purpose of this study was to examine relationship between organizational learning and organizational commitment in a higher education institution Method: The population of this causal-comparative design study comprises 1814 lecturers studying at a large Turkish public university and sample of the study includes 305 lecturers selected through criterion sampling.The data of the study is gathered by ‘Learning Organization Scale (LOS)' and ‘Organizational Commitment Scale (OCS).' The LOS includes five subscales: Individual competence, shared vision, as a team learning, mental models, and organizational structure and OCS includes three subscales: affective commitment, continuance commitment, normative commitment. In order to analyze the collected data, Pearson product-moment correlation and multiple linear regression analyses are utilized. Findings and Results: Learning is a complex process. In this respect, it is difficult to determine what individuals learn in both inside and outside of the organization and its contribution both to organizational learning and organizational commitment. In this study, the results of study indicate that there is a significant relationship between organization learning and organizational commitment. Positive relationship between organizational learning and organizational commitment contribute the quality of organizational life and achievement of organizational goals in a more efficient way. In sum, the results of the study indicated that %32 of the variance in learning organization dimensions significantly contribute to the prediction of organizational commitment.

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