Capability contingent: the impact of organisational learning styles on innovation performance

Abstract

In today's highly competitive and rapidly changing business environment, organisational learning can ensure an enterprise's survival and develop new opportunities. However, considering the different resources and capabilities available to an organisation, what kind of organisational learning style should an enterprise adopt to achieve its goal of organisational learning and innovation? This study aimed to determine the best learning styles and innovation performance under different contingencies. This study thus developed eight relevant hypotheses and then conducted an empirical study involving the top managers of 650 manufacturing companies listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange Corporation and the Over The Counter Market in Taiwan. The result of the path analysis of 154 valid samples indicated that the learning styles required for both incremental and radical innovation are substantially different between the four distinct contingencies when combining internal capacity and external relationships.

Keywords:

• organisational learning
• internal capabilities
• external relationships
• contingency factors
• innovation