Canonical correlation between knowledge management system, e-learning system and the development of learning organizations in South Korea

Many organizations have tried to become learning organizations because they have been known to contribute to increased financial performance, innovation, and the retention of workers who possess valuable knowledge. The underlying premise of the learning organization is that no organization can survive if it does not acquire the ability to adapt continuously to turbulent economic environments. The workforce is an integral part of learning organizations because employees have to become experts in transforming data and information into valuable knowledge for individual and organizational use. Questions exist about how organizations need to act in order to foster learning organizations. As they have been known to be capable of delivering information and knowledge of individual learning across organizations, KMS and ELS in reality have been utilized to foster the development of learning organizations. However, it is doubtful as to whether or not KMS and ELS have had an impact on learning organizations. Therefore, this study is designed to address this deficit and build a foundation for future research on the impact of KMS and ELS on the development of learning organizations and how organizational climate impacts both employees’ utilization of KMS or ELS and the development of learning organization in the workplaces of South Korea. The following hypotheses will guide this study: H1: There is a positive relationship between employees’ perception of organizational climate and their perceptions of the dimensions of learning organizations in Korean companies. H2: Employees’ perceptions of organizational climate affect their perceptions of learning organizations in Korean companies. H3: Employees’ perceptions of organizational climate affect their use of KMS. iii H4: Employees’ perceptions of organizational climate affect their use of ELS. H5: Employees’ use and perceptions on KMS influence the perceived dimensions of a learning organization. H6: Employees’ use and perceptions on ELS influence the perceived dimensions of a learning organization. The research setting consisted of three companies that have utilized two systems - KMS and ELS - in South Korea. These three companies were selected from convenient sampling and the data were collected via an online survey. Three sites were chosen in the service industry because employees are used to being isolated in separate workplaces. Therefore, information technologies such as KMS and ELS are critical media to communicate with, aid in learning, and develop employees within organizations. Since the purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of KMS and ELS, when influenced by organizational climate, on the development of learning organizations, it is important to collect data from employees in companies that use both KMS and ELS. To reveal the relationships among technology acceptances towards KMS and ELS, organizational climate and the dimensions of learning organizations, the following six hypotheses were tested by an empirical research methodology. First, hypothesis 1 (H1) was confirmed to show that there is a positive relationship between employees’ perceived organizational climate and the perceived dimensions of learning organizations in three Korean companies. Furthermore, hypothesis 2 (H2) was also confirmed to show that employees’ perceived organizational climate affects their perceptions of learning organizations in three Korean companies. Using canonical correlation analyses (CCA), hypothesis 3 (H3) and 4 (H4) confirmed that employees’ perceptions of organizational climate affect their use of KMS and iv ELS. Finally, hypothesis 5 (H5) and 6 (H6) were confirmed to show that employees’ use and perceptions on KMS and ELS influence the perceived dimensions of a learning organization. Company A and C both confirmed all six hypotheses. However, company B confirmed only hypothesis 1 (H1) and 2 (H2) and hypothesis 3 (H3), 4 (H4), 5 (H5), and 6 (H6) were not supported. In short, KMS and ELS do not seem to contribute to the development of a learning organization in company B. In addition, employees in company B did not feel by their perceived organizational climate that they had to utilize KMS and ELS to foster a learning organization. The results of this study can contribute to the field of Human Resource Development (HRD) in many significant ways. First, empirical results of this study can contribute to the understanding of theoretical knowledge behind the utilization of KMS and ELS on enhancing learning organizations. This study could help researchers in the field of KMS and ELS to develop a better understanding of the impact of KMS and ELS influenced by organizational climate in the successful enhancement of learning organizations in South Korea. Second, the results of the study will provide practitioners with useful information in adopting KMS and ELS in the workplace of South Korea. Generally, the myth is that employees will use these technological systems once organizations have built them into their system. However, technology is not a valuable tool if individuals do not accept and use it. Thus, organizational climate and employees’ acceptance levels towards both systems can inform HRD professionals on how to promote employees’ utilization of both systems and create learning environments within organizations. This study could also allow practitioners initiating KMS and ELS to identify their employees’ current utilization and acceptance levels with quantitative methodologies used in this research. In addition, this study could suggest a direction for change before practitioners adopt technologies in order to assist in successfully implementing KMS and v ELS. Based on the diagnosis of a learning organization, efforts to become a learning organization for competitive advantage should include considerations in incorporating KMS or ELS for use by employees for individual learning and organizational learning. The results of this study provide interrelationships among organizational climate, usage and acceptance of KMS and ELS, and the learning organization, to help organizations become better learning organizations. To facilitate employees’ usage of KMS and ELS for promoting the learning organization, organizational climate has to be considered. It is clear that building KMS and ELS into organizations does not guarantee employees’ usage and learning for organizational learning based on the results of company B. However, this study has several limitations. First, this study collected data in three companies within a service industry in South Korea for convenient sampling. The weakness of this approach is that participants may not be representative of all the employees in the company. Employees in other industries and other countries might provide different responses. Therefore, the results of this study can only be generalized with limitations to employees in other companies in South Korea. Second, findings were based on the perceptions of employees who voluntarily chose to respond to the questionnaire. Therefore, data gathered from this study must be interpreted with caution, recognizing that they are collected through a self-reporting mechanism, as opposed to direct observation, or actual data analysis and that not all employees in the companies were fully represented in the data. Third, this study conducted the data at a particular time with quantitative research, so longitudinal or qualitative will add better at explaining the interrelationships among employees’ perceptions of organizational climate, the usage and acceptance towards KMS and ELS, and the learning organization. Fourth, the contents in KMS and ELS may influence users’ use and acceptance levels so the extent to how much business strategies are associated with them vi needs to be investigated in each company. Fifth, each instrument showed different constructs from the original ones even though they had been used for a long time in cross-cultural contexts. Cultural differences may also affect the respondents’ interpretations, so the instruments used in the studies will need to be validated