Book chapter published with Springer

Posted on by Miha Škerlavaj

152260_AOIS_King_SoftcoverFresh from the oven, a book chapter Škerlavaj, M., Dimovski, V. (2009): Organizational Learning and Performance in Two National Cultures: A Multi-group Structural Equation Modeling Approach was published in a book King, W. (2009): Organizational Learning and Knowledge Management, Annals of Information Systems Series, Springer.

This chapter examines the impact of organizational learning on organizational performance in two countries. Using a multi-group structural equation modeling approach on data from 203 Slovenian and 202 Croatian companies, it tests the impact of the organizational learning process on financial and non-financial performance (NFP). The results show consistent findings between both countries under investigation (which vary only in terms of effect strength). First, the organizational learning process connects information processing with behavioral and cognitive changes. Second, organizational learning has a very strong direct impact on NFP (reflecting performance from employee, supplier, and customer points of view). Third, the effect of organizational learning on financial performance (measured in terms of return on assets and value added per employee) is also positive and strong, but indirect and exhibited through NFP. Finally, no direct effect on financial performance has been observed in any of the two cases. This paper advances the theory and practice of organizational learning by uncovering one specific aspect of the context in which organizational learning processes occur. It is the first of its kind to control for the contextual variables of national culture and economic development regarding the organizational learning – performance link.

Article published in TIBE

Posted on by Miha Škerlavaj

The SSCI publications just keep on comming! This time it is Hernaus, T., Škerlavaj, M., Dimovski, V. (2008): Relationship between Organisational Learning and Performance: The Case of Croatia, Transformations in Business and Economics, 7(22).

The focus of the paper is on the examination of organisational learning (OL) process and its link with organisational performance (OP) which was determined through operationalised OL and OP constructs. The research involved 202 Croatian companies employing more than 50 people. Besides determining the linkage between organisational learning and organisational performance, the research task was to determine which organisational performance measurement variables are the most and the least important, and even further, to identify the best and the worst predictable OP measurement items for each organisational learning variable. The most important finding of the study is the empirical evidence about exsistence of strong, statistically significant, positive relationship between organisational learning and organisational performance. In another words, organisations with development of their learning processes congruently increase their performance. The research also showed that employees’ measures are the most strongly related with organizational learning process.

Comparative study of organizational learning in Slovenia, Croatia, and Malaysia

Posted on by Miha Škerlavaj

ESWA coverI’m proud to annouce new SCI indexed publication to be issued in May 2008:

DIMOVSKI Vlado, ŠKERLAVAJ Miha, KIMMAN Mok, HERNAUS Tomislav: Comparative Analysis of the Organisational Learning Process in Slovenia, Croatia, and Malaysia. Expert Systems with Applications, 2008, 34 (4), pp. 3063-3070.

The study compares organizational learning process in 203 Slovenian, 202 Croatian, and 300 large and medium-sized Malaysian companies. The results show that all three countries under scrutiny are closest in terms of behavioural and cognitive changes, meaning that globalisation and other challenges of the modern business environment demand all of them to change and adapt quickly. However, the ways they are coping with these challenges are different. There are more similarities than dissimilarities between Slovenia and Croatia, while this is not the case when comparing both countries to Malaysia. When acquiring information, Slovenian and Croatian companies rely more on internal sources (own employees, past decisions, etc.), while Malaysian companies tend to rely more on external sources and more often have employees dedicated to searching for external information. When trying to interpret the information acquired, Slovenian and Croatian companies rely more on personal contacts, informal team meetings and believe that information given to subordinates must be simple and concise, while Malaysian companies tend to use more formal collective decision-making and written communication to understand the meaning of information.

Here is the full text: ESWA 2008 paper