Team performance in learning organizations: mediating effect of employee engagement

Purpose – This aim of the current research is to provide empirical evidence for the relationships among several organizational factors affecting team performance improvement, including the learning organization and employee engagement. In addition, the mediating effect of employee engagement was assessed to explain team performance improvement within the supportive learning organization. The target sample consisted of major Korean for-profit firms, and a total of 309 cases were used for data analyses. Structural equation modeling was used along with basic descriptive and multivariate research assumption tests. Results support that cultural aspects of the learning organization in Korean for-profit firms positively and directly affect the employee engagement, whereas cultural aspects of the learning organization positively affect team performance positively and indirectly only through employee engagement, and employee engagement plays a full mediating role in explaining the relationship between the learning organization and team performance. Conclusions are discussed, followed by implications for organizational development, limitations and future research suggestions. Design/methodology/approach – The target sample consisted of major Korean for-profit firms, and a total of 309 cases were used for data analyses. Structural equation modeling was used along with basic descriptive and multivariate research assumption tests. Findings – Results support that cultural aspects of the learning organization in Korean for-profit firms positively and directly affect the employee engagement, while cultural aspects of the learning organization positively affect team performance positively and indirectly only through the employee engagement, and the employee engagement plays a full mediating role in explaining the relationship between the learning organization and team performance. Originality/value – This research has not been conducted in the Korean context, and this research will provide not only scholarly evidences on the importance of the learning organization for performance improvement, but also the practical guideline for the practitioners to make effort to make their organizations as the learning organization for performance improvement.