Factors Affecting Organizational Learning in Agricultural Colleges

The purpose of this study was to investigate organizational learning and contextual factors with the respective effects on organizational learning in agricultural colleges. The research method used was a survey and descriptive- correlation techniques. The population consisted of all faculty members in the public agricultural colleges (N= 1726). Using Krejcie and Morgan Table, 329 faculty members were selected as sample (n= 329). Data were collected by using questionnaire, which was validated by a panel of experts and the reliability was gained through a pilot study with Cronbach’s Alpha coefficient between 0.73 to 0.93. The results of the research showed that there was a difference between existence and moderate point about all contextual factors (shared vision, system thinking, learning organizational culture, flexible organizational structure, professional development and personal mastery, and transformational leadership) and process factor (organizational learning) in agricultural colleges. The results of correlation showed that there was a positive and significant correlation between organizational learning and all contextual factors. The findings of multiple regressions revealed that four contextual factors, which included flexible organizational structure, system thinking, transformational leadership and professional development and personal mastery, have the most important role in explaining the organizational learning variance, respectively. The results of compared means showed that there was no significant differences in the perceptions of academic members based on their ranks and occupation in large or small colleges about current situation of contextual and process components, however, there was significant differences in the perception of managers and non- managers regarding current situation of shared vision, system thinking, professional development and personal mastery and transformational leadership. The article ends with several recommendations for improving the current situation of contextual and process components and providing situations for changing agricultural colleges to learning organizations.