Dimensions of social capital and learning culture: a case of an IT organization
ISSN: 0969-6474
Article publication date: 17 June 2020
Issue publication date: 17 June 2020
Abstract
Purpose
Earlier studies of social capital have focused on its influence on various aspects of business. There is substantial void in the literature on how social capital enables learning culture in organizations. The purpose of this paper is to explore direct and indirect relations between dimensions of social capital and learning culture in the organizational context.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey-based research was conducted in which the questionnaire based on the Dimensions of Learning Organization Questionnaire (DLOQ) and social capital was used. Participants in this study were employees from an IT organization based in India. Data was subjected to structural equation modeling to understand causal relations between social capital and learning culture.
Findings
This empirical study emphatically shows that parameters of social capital positively influence individual learning. Results show that shared vision, shared narratives in the cognitive dimension; trust and identification in the relational dimension; and mutual confiding in the structural dimension have a positive influence on individual learning.
Originality/value
Findings in this paper indicate that a culture of learning in organizations starts with individuals and it can be fueled and sustained by social capital embedded within the organization if managers focus on enabling the factors identified in this study through policies and practices.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors would like express immense gratitude to Dr Nataša Rupčić, Professor University of Rijeka, Croatia for spending her precious time to review the paper and providing candid and valuable comments on earlier versions of the manuscript. Her guidance through feedback played a major role in presenting this research work succinctly. This paper would not have reached the quality as seen without her support.
The authors are also thankful to Dr Pratheeba Vimalnath, Research Associate, University of Cambridge, UK. Her candid questioning, deep inquiry and able guidance have shaped this research, and she has been a phenomenal support in writing this paper.
Citation
Srirama, M.V., Iyer, P.P. and Reddy, H. (2020), "Dimensions of social capital and learning culture: a case of an IT organization", The Learning Organization, Vol. 27 No. 4, pp. 337-349. https://doi.org/10.1108/TLO-06-2019-0094
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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