Competitiveness Analysis in Agricultural Cooperatives: The Role of Organizational Learning and Organizational Innovation (Case of Agricultural Cooperatives of Tehran Province)

Given the importance of the role of agricultural cooperatives in agricultural and rural development, the need to identify the factors that improve the competitiveness of these organizations is strongly felt. The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between organizational learning, organizational innovation, and competitiveness. The present study was conducted by exploratory mixed method. The statistical population in the qualitative section consisted of 25 experts in the cooperative sector and the quantitative section included 335 members of the cooperatives who were studied by the class method with appropriate attribution. To analyze qualitative data, qualitative content analysis was used with the help of MAXQDA software, and in a small part, structural equation modeling was used with the help of LISREL program. Organizational learning components in the dimensions of team learning, knowledge management in cooperatives, systemic thinking and organizational learning culture; organizational innovation components in the dimensions of market innovation, innovation support, innovation in behavior, innovation in strategy and production and process innovation; and components of competitiveness in agricultural cooperatives in the dimensions of financial market development, technical and technological readiness, market size and efficiency available, and adaptation to the external environment were identified. In the quantitative section, it was found that organizational learning and organizational innovation can explain 41% of the changes in competitiveness, and organizational learning can explain 55% of the changes in organizational innovation in agricultural cooperatives.