Evidence Based Health Policy,

¹ Rehabilitation Research Center, Department of Rehabilitation Management, School of Rehabilitation Sciences, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
² Department of Rehabilitation Management, School of Rehabilitation Sciences, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
³ Maragheh University of Medical Sciences, Maragheh, Iran
⁴ Health Management and Economics Research Center, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

 

with changes via learning either in individual
or organizational levels (1). Organizational commitment is another significant point in condition of transformation and organizational learning. Few acceptable results are obtained by taking measures for deep changes regardless of strong commitment. Commitment is a risky effort to keep changes to the extent that such effort will become a part of the structure and common approach of the organization leading to survival of the organization (2).
Organizational learning is defined as measuring and determining what is effective and what is more effective (3). Organizational learning and learning organization are not synonymous. Organizational learning is learning of individual and groups in the organization but learning organization is learning of the organization as a whole system. In other words, learning organization results from organizational learning which is used to describe different types of activities involved in the organization. It is while that learning organization refers to a special type of organization, organizational learning is accounted as an internal process in the organization. In other words, the learning organization results from organizational learning (4). Organizational commitment is a motive force that requires the person staying in the organization and working in direction of organizational goals (5). According to the three-component model of organizational commitment outlined by Meyer and Allen, organizational commitment is made of three components such as continuous commitment, affective commitment and normative commitment.
Kaufman and Sangha (cited by Ulrich) (6) showed in their studies that learning in organizations is not possible without commitment thus changing into a learning organization. The research of Cho and Kwon (7) on personnel of some Korean businesses showed that preparing
for self-directed learning had positive relation
with affective commitment. However, normative and continuous commitments have negative association with self-directed learning. In addition, Hatamizadeh et al. (8), investigated local staff of rehabilitation and stated that low skill and knowledge of rehabilitation staff and lack of strong motivation and organizational commitment made some problems.
Allen and Meyer (cited by Hybo) (9) have stated that staffs who feel their requests have beenmetand are qualified for their job roles, will be committed to their organization and learning culture will be created. This potential matter provides a stable environment to create satisfactory results for staff. On the other hand, the goals created for organizational learning increase organizational commitment of staff.
In the research on the relationship between organizational learning and organizational commitment, Asghar HazratiViri et al. (2), showed that there was a significant relationship between organizational learning and organizational commitment. Moreover, results of the researcher show that the education has a negative relationship with organizational commitment of staff. Results suggest that components of organizational learning, three components of partnership leadership, systemic thinking and development of staff qualification predict positively and directly organizational commitment. In this model, variables of joint perspective, organizational culture, labor and team learning and knowledge sharing were not significantly predictive (10).
Specialized, loyal staffs who attach organizational values and goals with strong motivation and commitment to stay in organization are the main requirements of any organization. Wellbeing organization is the most common institution for organizing vulnerable people. Wellbeing is responsible for heavy tasks from several aspects. In one hand, this organization is responsible for supplying welfare of many disabled people in the society. On the other hand, the organization is responsible for many poor women and children. Concerning an important role of wellbeing organization in the society and increase of efficiency and effectiveness of the organization, the present research aims to study the relationship between organizational commitment and organizational learning of staff in wellbeing organization.
Materials and Methods
This is an analytical-descriptive research. The statistical population includes staff of wellbeing organization of Yazd province in 2015 (74 persons). The sample size was chosen by census. The research tools are organizational learning and organizational commitment questionnaires with demographic specifications.
A) Allen and Meyer organizational commitment questionnaire (11): The questionnaire includes 24 closed questions with three components of affective commitment, continuous commitment and normative commitment (eight questions for each dimension). Validity coefficients of the questionnaire for affective, normative and continuous commitments are 0.85, 0.79 and 0.83 respectively. The scoring was based on the five-point Likert scale ranging from completely agreed to completely disagreed. Concerning Likert scale, number 3 has been considered as the conceptual mean.
B) Nifa organizational learning questionnaire (12): the questionnaire includes 24 items with personal skills (6 items), subjective models (6 items), joint perspective (4 items), team learning (4 items) and systemic thinking (4 items). To find questionnaire reliability, Cronbach' alpha amount was calculated as 0.95. The questionnaire was scored based on the seven point Likert scale ranging from completely agreed to completely disagreed. To determine the questionnaire validity, content validity was used. The questionnaires were judged by professors and experts in this field including professors of rehabilitation management and treatment-health service management. The content validity of questionnaires was confirmed
as well.
To analyze data, descriptive and analytical statistics were used in the research. First, demographic specifications of respondents were obtained by descriptive statistic. Then, to test hypotheses and to study causal relations between variables, SPSS₁₈ software, single sample t-test (to study organizational learning and organizational commitment of staff of wellbeing organization in Yazd province), Kolmogorov-Smirnov test (to determine normalization or lack of normalization of the society), Pearson correlation test (to determine presence or absence of correlation between organizational learning and organizational commitment), independent t test (to study the relationship between gender, dimensions of organizational commitment and research variables), one way variance analysis test (to test the relationship between age and research variables) as well as linear regression (to determine the contribution of independent variable (organizational learning) from dependent variable (organizational commitment) were used.
Further, in the current study all ethical issues were observed based on the Helsinki Declaration.
Results
74 staffs of wellbeing organizations of Yazd province participated in the study. Results indicate that 45.9% were men and 54.1% were women. The highest level of education was bachelor (66.2%). Furthermore, 43.2% of staffs were between 31 and 40 years old (32 staffs). Most respondents had work experience between 11 and 15 years old (35.1%). 6 respondents (8.1%) had work experience less than 5 years.
According to table 1 and concerning 3 as the average number, mean organizational learning (X = 2.38) and mean organizational commitment (x = 2.60) were moderate among staffs.
Summary of results of organizational learning (independent variable) and organizational commitment (dependent variable) and its dimensions have been shown in table 2. Results suggest significant relationship between organizational learning and organizational commitment and its dimensions.
As seen in table 2, there is a significant relation between organizational learning and organizational commitment and its dimensions including affective commitment, continuous commitment and normative commitment. Such relationship was direct and positive. In addition, the highest correlation was found between organizational learning (independent variable) and affective commitment.
As seen in table 3, no significant difference was found between organizational commitment, organizational learning and gender.
According to table 4, all research variables had no significant relationship except for normative commitment. Means of different ages had no significant effect on variables except for normative commitment or no significant difference was found between them.
Concerning normal distribution of the sample (P-value = 0.374), regression test was done and results are shown in table 5.
To study the power of organizational learning in prediction of organizational commitment, bivariate regression was used. Results showed that organizational commitment explored 27.3% of variance of organizational learning (table 5).

 
Table 1. Studying organizational learning and organizational commitment among staffs

*Significant at the 0.05 level

Table 2. Studying correlation between organizational learning and organizational commitment and its dimensions

*Pearson Correlation Coefficient
**Significant at the 0.05 level
Table 3. The relationship between gender and each dimension of organizational commitment and organizational learning

*Significant at the 0.05 level

 
Table 4. The relationship between age and dimensions of organizational commitment and organizational learning

*Significant at the 0.05 level

Table 5. Regression analysis of the relation between organizational learning and organizational commitment

*Regression Correlation Coefficient

 

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