The Mediator Role of Employee Empowerment on the Effect of Organizational Learning on Innovation

The requests and needs of consumers change rapidly in parallel to rapidly changing and improving global world. As a result, organizations have to strive with this rapid change and improvement, and even start the change. One of the newest and the main weapons that an organization could have to survive and stand against national and international threats is innovation. Organizations should place importance on such a strong competition tool and search for ways to make sustainable innovation happen. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to demonstrate that organizational learning increases innovation through obtaining, sharing, evaluating, using and storing information. Additionally, the purpose is to demonstrate that employee empowerment plays a mediator role in the effect of organizational learning on innovation. In this research study conducted with 140 employees of a factory that exports to more than 50 countries, structural equation modelling and LISREL software were used. The analyses showed that the vision and open mindedness dimensions of organizational learning affects innovation types (process, strategy, market, product) significantly and positively. Additionally, employee empowerment affects only strategy and product innovation significantly and positively. On the other hand, employee empowerment plays a mediator role in all the relationships between vision and open mindedness, and strategy and product innovation