Examining the impact of organizational symbols on the information management process, performance and corporate innovation

The aim of this study is to determine the effect of both physical and behavioral symbols used in organizations on the knowledge management process, knowledge management performance and firm innovation in these organizations. The field search supporting this study was carried out on the firms operating in Gebze and İkitelli Organized Industrial Zones in Istanbul. In this context, the thoughts and perceptions of the personnel in these firms are taken as basis. Within the scope of the research, 740 firms were contacted, and the answers of 400 employees with 33 different titles working in these firms were included in the study. Research findings suggest that a positive correlation was found between the variables.The effect of behavioral symbols on knowledge management process, information management performance and firm innovation is statistically significant. Although the research variables did not have a significant difference according to the gender, significant differences were determined according to the education status. The contribution of this study to the literature is to examine the effects of corporate culture in the context of organizational symbols on the knowledge management process, performance and on the firm level innovation which is increasingly important for enterprises with the original developed instrument.