The mediation role of organizational forgetting in the relationship between faculty members' opinions on organizational learning and innovation management

The main aim of the study was to examine the mediation role of organizational forgetting in the relationship between organizational learning and innovation management according to faculty members' opinions. Research was designed as a correlational design. The population of the study consisted of faculty members who work at Anadolu University, Eskişehir Technical University and Osmangazi University during 2019-2020 academic year. The sample consisted of 524 faculty members who selected by using stratified sample technique from the population. Data of the study were collected with Organizational Learning Scale, Organizational Forgetting Scale and Innovation Management Scale. To analyze the data, AMOS 21 and SPSS 22 package programs were used. In the analysis of the research data, descriptive statistics, independent sample t-test, one-way analysis of variance, correlation analysis, regression analysis, structural equation modelling and bootstrapping method were applied. According to results of the study, it was found statistically significant and positive relationships between organizational learning, innovation management and purposeful forgetting in higher education institutions with respect to faculty members' opinions. It was also determined that there is a significant negative relationship between accidental forgetting, which is another dimension of organizational forgetting, and innovation management and purposeful forgetting. However, it was found that there are not any significant relationships between accidental forgetting and organizational learning. According to results of structural equation modelling, it was found that purposeful forgetting had a partial mediating effect in the relationship between organizational learning and innovation management. Results of the bootstrapping analysis showed that the indirect effects were found to be significant.