Title: The impact of a learning culture on organisational change in regional SMEs

Authors: Geoff Bamberry; Saeed Sabri-Matanagh; Glen Duncan

Addresses: School of Management and Marketing, Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga NSW 2678, Australia ' Holmesglen Institute, Melbourne, VIC 3006, Australia ' School of Management and Marketing, Institute for Land, Water and Society, Bathurst NSW 2795, Australia

Abstract: This paper explores the impact of a learning culture on organisational change in small to medium-sized regional manufacturing enterprises following a review of the related literature, and a qualitative study of 10 manufacturing SMEs in the Riverina region of New South Wales. The research confirmed that key learning culture factors as identified in the literature were significant in the regional manufacturing firms studied. These included a strong commitment to a learning culture within the organisation, employee involvement in the development of the learning culture, demonstrating the tangible benefits of a learning culture to senior managers, and strong leadership support for organisational learning.

Keywords: learning culture; organisational change; commitment to learning; employee involvement; regional SMEs; small and medium-sized enterprises; manufacturing SMEs; Australia; leadership support.

DOI: 10.1504/IJLC.2015.069070

International Journal of Learning and Change, 2015 Vol.8 No.1, pp.1 - 20

Received: 07 Nov 2012
Accepted: 17 Sep 2013
Published online: 26 Apr 2015 *

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