The Influence Of Organizational Structure and Information Technologies on Organizational Learning

Organizational learning (OL) is a set of actions (information acquisition, information distribution, information interpretation, and organizational memory) within an organization, which intentionally and unintentionally produce knowledge. Information Technologies (ITs) are considered as common facilitating tools for all learning agents. The organizational structure also plays a crucial role in determining learning processes. This study aims to analyze the importance of some IT technologies on the OL, and examine empirically whether the organizational structure (job specialization -vertical and horizontal-, formalization, autonomy, and centralization) affects directly to the OL process. Carrying out regression analysis, this study has two different implications. First, Information Technology (IT) is a powerful tool to improve OL process. And second, organizational structure directly affects the OL, where low formalization and centralization, and high vertical job specialization are significantly associated with greater capacity for OL process.