Designing a Conceptual Model for an Innovative University with a Focus on the Organizational Learning Approach (A Case Study of Islamic Azad Universities of North Khorasan)

The present study was conducted with the intention of designing a conceptual model for an innovative university with a focus on the organizational learning approach in the Islamic Azad universities of North Khorasan. To carry out the study, the mixed-method was applied and the target population was the experts in the field of management of whom 20 subjects were selected as the expert panel. By applying the ‘theme analysis’, interview protocol, and qualitative data analysis software ‘NVIVO’, the data of the qualitative phase was analyzed.The findings indicated that, based on the experts’ opinions, an innovative university among North Khorasan universities possessed 139 free codes that were grouped into 27 axial codes. Finally they were classified into 10 selective codes. To measure and confirm the validity of the qualitative phase of the study, the investigator-triangulation was used where two university professors of management analyzed and judged the process and the instrument. To continue the study procedures, the questionnaire for the quantitative phase was developed whose face and content validity and reliability were confirmed by employing the Cronbach’s alpha. Thence, the questionnaire was administered to 124 faculty members of North Khorasan Islamic Azad universities, and the findings obtained from the quantitative section of the study indicated that the status-quo of the innovative university and organizational learning approach indices was far below average. Based on the structural equation analysis