Managers' Perceptions of Organizational Learning and Organizational Innovativeness in a Global Healthcare Organization

This study investigated the relationship between organizational learning and organizational innovativeness through the lens of Schwandt's Organization Learning Systems Model (OLSM). The study used an explanatory correlational design with a comprehensive sample. A total of 789 leaders, from four key functional areas, representing five levels of management across five regions of a global healthcare organization were invited to participate in this study. Four hypotheses were tested to determine if each of the four Organizational Learning subsystems (Dissemination and Diffusion and Meaning and Memory) were related to each of the five Organizational Innovativeness dimensions (behavioral, process, product, market and strategic. The Organizational Action Survey (OAS) and the Organizational Innovativeness Assessment were used to collect data. Of the total surveyed, 305 leaders participated representing a response rate of 38.6%. A correlational analysis using Pearson Product Moment Correlations found support for all four hypotheses. Organizational Learning subsystems were found to be moderately to highly correlated to Organizational Innovativeness dimensions. The only exception was a slight relationship between Environmental Interface and strategic innovativeness. A stepwise multiple regression analysis indicated that Organizational Learning subsystems accounted for between 21.11% and 39% of the variance in Organizational Innovativeness dimensions. This study advances current theory in two key ways. First, it identifies organizational learning theory as the primary engine for change. Second it provides a framework for bridging research on innovation across disciplines. A critical contribution to research is the finding that there is a relationship between Organizational Learning and Organizational Innovativeness from a social systems perspective