Interorganizational Networks and Firm Performance: The Mediating Role of Organizational Learning and Innovation

Over the past decade, the concept of networks has been of increasing academic interest. Researchers narrowly analyze the nature of networks, their relevancy, and their associations with other fields, including organizational changes, innovation, organizational learning, and strategic management. The emerging interest in interorganizational collaboration proposes new insights into the relationship between an organization's networking and its performance. This interest can be explained by the growing awareness of a number of related factors affecting this relationship. This paper aims to contribute to this field of research by addressing the way in which organizational learning and innovation mediate the relationship between networks and firm performance. Firstly, this paper seeks to conceptualize the relationship between networks and performance while including the proposed mediators. This theoretical conceptualization is grounded in a review of the literature. Secondly, this paper tests empirically the respective relations. The aim of this paper is achieved through the empirical testing of formulated hypotheses using survey data. The survey was conducted in 2014, the data collected from 410 Lithuanian organizations selected from innovative and non-innovative sectors, and the survey respondents were managers of these organisations or members of management teams. To ensure the reliability of the results, secondary data was collected from the Statistics Lithuania. In order to test the relationship between interorganizational networks and firm performance, with organizational learning and innovations as mediators, different statistical methods were used. Spearman correlation was used to determine if there was a correlation between the proposed variables. Strong correlation was found between the selected variables and non-financial performance, with further empirical testing focusing on non-financial performance results only. Regression analysis was also carried out in order to test the proposed theoretical research model. The results go some way to validate the proposed relations between interorganizational networks, performance, organizational learning, and innovation. The implications of the research for academics and practitioners are discussed, along with limitations and possible directions for future research.