Studying the influences of organizational learning on turnover intentions, absenteeism, and organizational performance among employees working in a French-Canadian hospital

ABSTRACT

This paper investigates the interrelationships among organizational learning (OL) facilitators, OL itself, and three organizational outcomes: employee intention to leave the organization, absenteeism, and perceived organizational performance. It also investigates how OL mediates the relationship between OL facilitators and organizational outcomes. 145 employees (113 women) working in a French-Canadian community hospital completed a survey covering all the studied variables. Bootstrap regression analyses were used to test various hypotheses. Results support the idea that environmental components (culture, leadership, support, and strategic management of learning) can facilitate OL. They also show that OL mediates the relationships between certain of its facilitators and employee intention to leave the organization as well as perceived organizational performance. The research supports the view that it is possible to reduce employee turnover intentions and foster performance in a healthcare context by establishing an environment conducive of OL.

KEYWORDS:

• Organizational learning
• organizational learning facilitator
• intention to leave
• absenteeism
• perceived organizational performance

Acknowledgement

The authors are grateful for the financial support provided by the Montfort Hospital’s Knowledge Institute (in French: Institut du savoir Montfort), as well as its assistance in carrying out this study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Considering that some of the items comprise into this scale came from previous studies, and that most of them were adapted to this study context, an exploratory factor analysis (principal axis factoring) was conducted. Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) test which revealed a value of .841 (p =.000). According to Tabachnick and Fidell (2013), KMO values between .8 and 1 indicate the sampling is adequate. A solution in one factor only was observed (Eigen value of 4.681) which explained 74.09% of total variance. Factor loadings for each item were all above the commonly accepted threshold value of .4: (1) ‘Enhance the quantity of care and services it provides to patients/users’ (.629); (2) ‘Improve the quality of care and services it provides to patients/users’ (.846); (3) ‘Improve the experience for the patients/users it admits’ (.876); (4) ‘Increase the level of satisfaction of its patients/users’ (.879); (5) ‘Increase the level of satisfaction of its employees’ (.492); (6) ‘Increase its overall organizational performance’ (.724).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jean-François Labre

Jean-François Labre holds an M. Sc. in Industrial Relations and Human Resources from the Université du Québec en Outaouais (Gatineau, Canada) and is a Chartered Professional in Human Resources (CPHR)). He actually works as a consultant for Epsi INC. (Gatineau, Canada), a firm that specialized in psychometric assessment as well as engagement measurement.

Martin Lauzier

Martin Lauzier is a full professor of human resource management at Université du Québec en Outaouais (Gatineau, Canada), and holder of Montfort Hospital’s research chair on the management and development of healthcare professionals (Ontario, Canada). His research interest is mainly centered on the enhancement of health professionals’ training and development activities, healthcare change management and presenteeism.