The relationship between information technology competency, organizational learning and firm performance within the framework of a resource-based approach

In strategic management science, it is important that firms gain competitive advantage and that the advantage is sustainable. According to the Resource-Based Approach (RBA), the main factor that creates the competitive advantage is the unique resources and capabilities of the firms. It has become necessary to examine the causal relationships between Information Technology (IT) competency and organizational learning, which is considered to be a source of competitive advantage with its valuable, rare, nonsubstitutable and inimitable features, and the performance of firms. In this direction, the aim of this study has been that investigating the relationship between IT competency, organizational learning and firm performance, revealing how IT competency affects organizational learning, determining the role of organizational learning in increasing firm resources and sustainable competitive advantage, determining the relationship between the firm's investment in IT and increasing its profitability. The variables used in the research were examined in the domestic and foreign literature, and the theoretical background was created by making conceptual explanations. As the study population, firm executives in Turkey's top 1000 firms were accepted. Convenience sampling method was used, all firms operating in 25 different sectors were included in the study as a sample, and a total of 284 middle and senior managers of the firms were participated in the survey evaluation. Responses of the participants regarding the survey; confirmatory factor analysis, reliability analysis, correlation analysis, percentage, frequency, standard deviation, arithmetic mean analysis methods were analyzed using SPSS 25.0 and AMOS 21.0 programs. It has been concluded according to the findings obtained that there is no significant relationship between IT competency and firm performance, there is a significant positive relationship between IT competency and organizational learning capability and organizational learning process, there is no significant relationship between organizational learning capability and firm performance, there is a statistically significant but negative relationship between organizational learning process and firm performance, IT competency does not have a significant effect on firm performance, IT competency has a significant effect on organizational learning capability and organizational learning process, there is no difference in the effect of IT competency on firm performance, organizational learning capability and organizational learning process, according to the sector in which the firm operates. Keywords: Resource based approach, information technology competency, organizational learning, firm performance.