The relationship between innovation, organizational learning and organizational structure in organizations: A research on technology development zones

In the changing market conditions and competitive environment, the success and survival of organizations can rely on their correct understanding of innovation. At the core of the formation of this crucial innovation process, there is a lot of new information acquired at the level of the individual, group, organization and/or industrial level. Therefore, the innovation capability of organizations is related to how much they can transform this learned information into a benefit. In addition, organizational structure which can lead to the learning to gain a new form, can reveal qualities and talents that support individual and holistic learning while transforming knowledge. This research aims to reveal the effect of organizational structure on the innovation capability of the organization and to examine the mediating role of organizational learning in this effect to determine the relationship between innovation, organizational learning, and organizational structure in organizations. For this purpose, a questionnaire was applied to 270 participants consisting of employees of companies operating in technology development zones in Istanbul. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to test the validity of the variables, and regression and mediation test analysis were used to test the hypotheses. In line with the results of the research, it has been observed that the perceived organizational structure has a significant and positive effect on organizational learning and organizational innovation, organizational learning has a significant and positive effect on organizational innovation, and organizational learning has a mediating effect in the relationship between perceived organizational structure and organizational innovation.