An Empirical Investigation of the Relationship between Organizational Culture and Customer Orientation: The Mediating Effect of Knowledge Management (An Empirical Study in the Household Appliance Industry in Iran)

摘要

Customer orientation has emerged as a significant antecedent of organizational performance and it is presumed to contribute relating organization's members to customers as one of the main external forces of the organization's environment and to long-term success. Internal characteristics of the organization such as culture are likely to be influential on this concept. This study aims to investigate the linkage between dimensions of organizational culture and customer orientation, regarding the mediating role that knowledge management can play to enhance this relation. The statistical population consists of managers and staff of Iran's household appliance industry. Random sampling method has been applied to select the appropriate sample. The examinations were done through 192 available questionnaires. In order to test the conceptual model, structural equations' model (SEM) has been used. Amount of goodness indexes (AGFI= 0.89, GFI= 0.90) shows suitability of the model. Results based on SEM outputs demonstrate acceptance and confirmation of all studied factors. These findings indicate that organizational culture affects knowledge management in a positive way and knowledge management in turn, can influence customer orientation positively.