Investigating the Impact of Learning Organization Components on Organizational Innovation (Case Study: Islamic Azad University)

Purpose: To predict the risks and opportunities faced by organizations in future will that give us the ability to decide and think about them before we get into trouble. Organizational change planning and improvement with lifelong learning to cope with organizational challenges for sustainable organizational survival and development are trough the prominent necessities. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of components of learning organization on innovation in Islamic Azad University. Methodology: This research was a descriptive survey. The statistical population of the study consisted of all faculty members of Shabestar Azad University in 2016. The initial sample size consisted of 271 individuals and 160 individuals were selected by stratified random sampling method using the Cochran formula. For data collection, Goh standard questionnaire of learning organization and the standard organizational innovation questionnaire Saatchi et al. were utilized. The validity of the two questionnaires was confirmed. The reliability of the learning organization questionnaire was equal to α = 0.843 and organizational innovation reliability was calculated as α = 0.811 using Cronbach's alpha coefficient. Using SPSS and LISREL software, the obtained data were analyzed through descriptive and inferential statistical analysis (confirmatory factor analysis, path analysis). Findings: The results indicated of the direct and significant impact of the components of the learning organization (transparency, empowerment and leadership commitment, experimentation and reward, teamwork, and group problem solving) on organizational innovation and also indicated a good fitting for the model. Discussion: The components of the learning organization have an impact on organizational innovation and lead to improvement of the organizational performance in all its components (transparency, empowerment and commitment of leadership, experimentation and reward, teamwork, and group problem solving).