Investigating the Relationships between Knowledge Inertia, Organizational Learning and Organizational Innovation in Yazd Higher Education

Knowledge has become a significant asset both for individuals and organizations. Thus, successful knowledge management can be the chief determinant for the survival of an enterprise in a knowledge-based economy. Nevertheless, hurdles to efficient and effective knowledge management are many. Using the principles of inertia in physics to knowledge management, Liao states that knowledge inertia may inhibit an organization’s capability to learn and solve problems. However, when facing problems, people generally resort to their prior knowledge and experience for solutions. Such routine problem-solving strategy is termed "knowledge inertia". This study aims to establish the constructs of knowledge inertia and examine the relationships between knowledge inertia, organizational learning and organizational innovation. Structural equation modeling is employed to discuss the degree of influence of constructs on each other and whether their relationships vary in 3 different Universities in Yazd. A questionnaire survey was conducted to collect data from 3 different universities, And 495 valid responses were collected. Our results reveal that when a firm’s members have either less learning inertia or experience inertia, the performance of the organizational learning and organizational innovation will be better. Organization type has a moderate effect on the relationships of variables.