Examining the Relationships between Organizational Culture, Knowledge Management, and Environmental Responsiveness Capability

Abstract

Purpose -- The main goal of this paper is to study the effects of organizational culture on environmental responsiveness capability (ERC) both directly and through the mediation of knowledge management in selected Iranian industrial research organizations (IIRO). Furthermore, the effects of four types of organizational culture on ERC and knowledge management in the target population are compared.Design/methodology/approach -- Relationships between the ERC, knowledge management and organizational culture are considered using survey data through the structural equation modelling (SEM) approach. Five-point Likert questionnaire has been used as a tool for measuring variables. Our sample includes 276 members of 13 selected target organizations whose names are not mentioned due to prior agreement.Findings -- Results show that organizational culture has a positive and significant relationship with ERC, both directly and indirectly through the mediation of knowledge management. Additionally, compared with other types of organizational cultures, innovativeness culture has the highest correlation with ERC both directly and through knowledge management as a mediating variable. Furthermore, cooperativeness culture has a direct significant relationship with ERC, whereas consistency and effectiveness cultures indirectly have significant and positive relationships with ERC through knowledge management. Therefore results of this research provide appropriate evidence that ERC can be affected directly by innovativeness culture and knowledge management.Research limitations/implications -- This research was conducted in IIRO with specific set of societal and cultural attitudes, while different countries have different cultures. So, future research can extend this study to other regions of the world with a different set of attitudes and behaviours. However, the current research provides important insights into effects of knowledge management and organizational culture on the degree of organizational responsiveness.Practical implications -- The findings of this research can assist companies to develop their organizational culture to foster KM processes and enable consistent tracking of environmental changes and undertake timely and appropriate responses. Originality/value -- The advantage of this paper compared to other related research is to study on ERC based on cultural and knowledge-related variables. Hence it can extend the literature of ERC and it can be useful for the managers who are dealing with industrial research company.