Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The role of transformational leadership, organizational culture and organizational learning in improving the performance of Iranian agricultural faculties

  • Published:
Higher Education Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This empirical research was conducted to investigate the role of transformational leadership, organizational culture and organizational learning in improving the performance of Iranian agricultural faculties and leading them to become learning organizations. The research population consisted of all faculty members of public agricultural faculties affiliated with Iran’s Ministry of Science, Research and Technology. A sample of 329 faculty members was selected using stratified random sampling method with proportional allocation. Questionnaire was the main tool for data gathering. Validity of the questionnaire was verified using average variance extracted. Composite reliability coefficients were calculated for determining the reliability of the questionnaire. Collected data were analyzed by structural equation modeling technique using Lisrel 8.50 software package. The results showed that there was a positive and significant relation between contextual components (transformational leadership and learning organizational culture) and process component (organizational learning). These two contextual components could explain 87.3 % of the process component variance. Also, there was a positive and significant relation between process component and performance component, and the process component could explain 36 % of the performance component variance. Our findings support that transformational leadership and learning organizational culture with the effect on organizational learning process not only improve the agricultural faculty performance, but also change them to learning organizations.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Abbasi, E. (2010). Developing learning agricultural faculties. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Tehran.

  • Alibeigi, A. (2005). Integrating of sustainability in Iranian agricultural higher education system. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Tehran.

  • Amitay, M., Popper, M., & Lipshitz, R. (2005). Leadership styles and organizational learning in community clinics. The Learning Organization, 12(1), 57–70.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baker, W. E., & Sinkula, J. (1999). The synergistic effect of market orientation and learning orientation on organizational performance. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 27(4), 411–427.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bass, B. M. (1985). Leadership and performance beyond expectations. New York: Free Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bass, B. M. (1997). Does the transformational—transactional leadership paradigm transcend organizational and national boundaries? American Psychology, 52(2), 130–139.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bass, B. M., & Avalio, B. (1994). Transformational leadership and organizational culture. International Journal of Public Administration, 17(3), 541–554.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bentler, P. M., & Yuan, K. H. (1999). Structural equation modeling with small samples: Test statistics. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 34, 181–197.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bikmoradi, A., Brommels, M., Shoghli, A., Masiello, D., & Khorasani Zavareh, D. (2009). Organizational culture, values, and routines in Iranian medical schools. Higher Education, 57, 417–427.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bowden, J., & Matron, F. (1998). The university of learning: Beyond quality and competence in higher education. London: Kogan page.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bunwan, C., Tesputa, K., & Nimchinda, P. (2010). Developing a model of learning organization at a technical college. The social science, 5(6), 538–544.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chang, S. C., & Lee, M. S. (2007). A study on relationship among leadership, organizational culture, the operation of learning organization and employees’ job satisfaction. The Learning Organization, 14(2), 155–185.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Collins, J. C., & Porras, J. I. (1991). Organizational vision and visionary organizations. California Management Review, 34(1), 30–52.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cook, S. D. N., & Yanow, D. (1993). Culture and organizational learning. In D. Cohen & L. S. Sproull (Eds.), Organizational learning (pp. 430–459). Thousand oaks, CA: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • DeGeus, A. P. (1988). Planning as learning. Harvard Business Review, 69(2), 70–74.

    Google Scholar 

  • Denison, D. R., & Mishra, A. K. (1995). Toward a theory of organizational culture and effectiveness. Organization Science, 6(2), 204–223.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Denton, J. (1998). Organizational learning and effectiveness. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fichman, M. (1999). Variance explained: Why size does not (always) matter. Tepper School of Business. Paper 112. Retrieved from http://repository.cmu.edu/tepper/112.

  • Garcia-Morales, V. J., Liorens-Montes, F. J., & Verdu-Jover, A. J. (2007). Influence of personal mastery on organizational performance through organizational learning and innovation in large firms and SMEs. Technovation, 27, 547–568.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Garcia-Morales, V. J., Lopezmartin, F., & Liamassanchez, R. (2006). Strategic factors and barriers for promoting educational organizational learning. Teaching and Teacher Education, 22, 478–502.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gephart, M. A., & Marsick, V. J. (1996). Learning organizations come alive. Training & Development, 50(12), 35–45.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goh, S. C. (1998). Toward a learning organization: The strategic building blocks. Advanced Management Journal, 63(2), 15–20.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goh, S., & Richards, G. (1997). Benchmarking the learning capabilities of organizations. European Management Journal, 15(5), 575–583.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goh, S. C., & Ryan, P. J. (2008). The organizational performance of learning companies: A longitudinal and competitor analysis using market and accounting financial data. The Learning Organization, 15(3), 225–239.

    Google Scholar 

  • Government Performance Report. (2012). An overview of the performance of Ministry of Science, Research and Technology. Retrieved from http://isna.ir/fa.

  • Hansen, G., & Wernerfelt, B. (1989). Determinants of firm performance in relative importance of economic and organizational factors. Strategic Management Journal, 10(5), 399–411.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hejazi, Y. (2006). Four basics for agricultural and natural resources education. Tehran: Pooneh.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hosseini, M., Kalantari, Kh., & Eskandari, F. (2008). The role of Iranian higher agricultural education system on entrepreneurial success of its graduates: Some policy implications for entrepreneurship education. American-Eurasian Journal of Agricultural & Environmental Sciences, 3(3), 394–402.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hoveyda, R. (2007). Investigation the relationship between learning organization factors and improvement of educational quality in universities of Isfahan province. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Isfahan.

  • Iglesias, V. (2004). Perceptions about service. How much do they influence quality evaluations? Journal of Service Research, 7(1), 90–103.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • James, C. R. (2003). Designing learning organization. Organizational Dynamics, 32(1), 46–61.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kezar, A. (2005). What campuses need to know about organizational learning and the Learning Organization. New Direction for Higher Education, 131, 7–22.

    Google Scholar 

  • Krejcie, R. V., & Morgan, D. W. (1970). Determining sample size for research activities. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 30, 607–610.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lam, Y. L. (2002). Defining the effect of transformation leadership on organization learning: A cross-cultural comparison. School Leadership & Management, 22(4), 439–452.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leithwood, K., Leonard, L., & Sharratt, L. (1998). Condition fostering organizational learning in school. Education Administration Quarterly, 34(2), 243–276.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lopez, S. P., Peon, J. M. M., & Ordas, C. J. V. (2004). Managing knowledge: The link between culture and organizational learning. Journal of knowledge Management, 8(6), 93–104.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lopez, S. P., Peon, J. M. M., & Ordas, C. J. V. (2005). Organizational learning as a determining factor in business performance. The Learning Organization, 12(3), 227–245.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lucas, C., & Kline, T. (2008). Understanding the influence of organizational culture and group dynamics on organizational change and learning. The Learning Organization, 15(3), 277–287.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lyles, M. A., & Salk, J. (1997). Knowledge acquisition from foreign partners in international joint ventures: An empirical examination in the Hungarian context. In P. Beamish & P. Killing (Eds.), Cooperative strategies: European perspectives. San Francisco: New Lexington Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marquardt, M. J. (1996). Building the learning organization: A system approach to quantum improvement and global success. New York: McGraw-Hill.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marquardt, M., & Reynolds, A. (1994). Global learning organization: Gaining advantage through continuous learning. New York: Irwin.

  • Naderi Khorshidi, A. (2002). Designing a model for development of organizational learning capability in Iran Khodro Cooperative. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Tehran.

  • Neefe, D. O. (2001). Comparing levels of organizational learning maturity of colleges universities participating traditional and non-traditional (Academic Quality Improvement Project) accreditation processes. M.S. Thesis, University of Wisconsin.

  • Nevis, E. C., Dibella, A. J., & Gould, J. M. (1995). Understanding organizations as learning systems. Sloan Management Review, 36(2), 73–85.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nonaka, I. (1994). A dynamic theory of organizational knowledge creation. Organizational Science, 5, 14–37.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Patterson, G. (1999). The learning University. The Learning Organization, 6(1), 9–17.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pham, N. T., & William, F. (2006). Facilitators of organizational learning in design. The Learning Organization, 13(2), 186–201.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Popper, M., & Lipshitz, R. (1998). Organizational learning mechanisms: A cultural and structural approach to organizational learning. The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 34, 161–179.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Raykov, T. (1998). Coefficient alpha and composite reliability with interrelated nonhomogeneous items. Applied Psychological Measurement, 22(4), 375–385.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schein, E. H. (1993). On dialogue, culture, and organizational learning. Organizational Dynamics, 22, 40–51.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schein, H. E. (2004). Organizational culture and leadership (3rd ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

    Google Scholar 

  • Senge, P. (1990). The fifth discipline: The art and practice of the learning organization. New York: Doubleday Publ.

    Google Scholar 

  • Senge, P., Roberts, C., Ross, R. B., Smith, B. J., & Kleiner, A. (1994). The fifth discipline fieldbook. New York: Doubleday Publ.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sporn, B. (2003). The dialogue between higher education research and practice. Netherlands: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ulrich, D., Von Glinow, M. A., & Jick, T. (1993). High-impact learning: Building and diffusing learning capability. Organizational Dynamics, 22(2), 52–66.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wellman, J. L. (2009). Organizational learning: How companies and institutions manage and apply knowledge. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Willcoxson, L. (2001). Strategies for changing a University into a learning organization. In L. Richardson & J. Lidston (Eds.), Flexible learning for a flexible society (pp. 720–731). Processing of ASET-HERDSA 2000 Conferences.

  • Yanow, D. (2000). Seeing organizational learning: A cultural view. Organization, 7, 247–268.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zamani, Gh. H., & Azizi, T. (2006). Executive administrators’ perceptions towards agricultural graduates employment. Iranian Agricultural Extension and Education Journal, 2(2), 73–86.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhang, D., Zhang, Z., & Yang, B. (2004). Learning organization in mainland China: Empirical research on its application to Chinese state-owned enterprises. International Journal of Training and Development, 8(4), 258–273.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zumbo, B. D., Gadermann, A. M., & Zeisser, C. (2007). Ordinal versions of coefficients alpha and theta for Likert rating scales. Journal of Modern Applied Statistical Methods, 6, 21–29.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Agricultural Extension and Education, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran

    Enayat Abbasi

  2. Department of Agricultural Extension and Education, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Fars, Iran

    Naser Zamani-Miandashti

Authors
  1. Enayat Abbasi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Naser Zamani-Miandashti
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Naser Zamani-Miandashti.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Abbasi, E., Zamani-Miandashti, N. The role of transformational leadership, organizational culture and organizational learning in improving the performance of Iranian agricultural faculties. High Educ 66, 505–519 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-013-9618-8

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-013-9618-8

Keywords

Search

Navigation