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Translated Title

The Impact of Educational Structure of Research Development Department on Organizational Performance

Please Note:

This article is in Slovenian.

Ključne besede

uspešnost organizacij, struktura razvojnega oddelka, izobrazbena raznolikost, inovativnost

Keywords

organizational performance, research development department, educational structure, innovativeness

Povzetek

Prispevek se osredotoča na vprašanje, kako izobrazbena raznolikost v razvojnem oddelku vpliva na uspešnost organizacije. Glavni namen je pomagati organizacijam pri postavitvi uspešnih razvojnih oddelkov, ki bodo pozitivno vplivali na uspešnost organizacije. Hipoteze, ki izhajajo iz teoretičnega pregleda vpliva raznolikosti, na splošno predvidevajo, da je izobrazbena raznolikost v razvojnem oddelku dobrodošla in pozitivno povezana z uspešnostjo organizacije. Podatki so bili zbrani v empirični raziskavi 433 organizacij na območju Slovenije, Avstrije, Italije in Hrvaške ter analizirani s pomočjo mediacijske analize s tehniko "PROCESS". Z dobljenimi rezultati nismo potrdili nobene od postavljenih hipotez, rezultati pa vseeno niso v nasprotju s teorijo raznolikosti v skupinah in razvojnih oddelkih ter z njenim pozitivnim vplivom na kreativnost posameznika, inovativnost skupine/organizacije ali ne nazadnje na uspešnost. V prispevek nismo vključili raznolikosti zaposlenih v različnih dimenzijah, ampak smo se omejili zgolj na izobrazbeno raznolikost zaposlenih znotraj razvojnega oddelka. Rezultati te analize odpirajo nov pogled na razvojni oddelek in izobrazbo zaposlenih v njem ter na njihov vpliv na uspešnost. Rezultati govorijo o tem, da imajo večje organizacije glede izobrazbe bolj homogene razvojne oddelke kot manjše, bolj homogeni razvojni oddelki v izobrazbenem smislu pa pomenijo inovativnejšo in dobičkonosnejšo organizacijo.

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to examine how the educational structure of the research and development department (R&D) is linked to organizational performance. The main purpose of the paper is to help companies to set up a successful R&D, which will have a positive impact on organizational performance. Based on the theoretical background, we developed hypotheses revolving around the main idea that the educational diversity of R&D is positively associated with organizational performance. For empirical research, we collected data from 433 organizations from Slovenia, Austria, Italia and Croatia. We then analyzed the collected data in SPSS with a series of linear regression and mediation analyses using the »PROCESS«. The results of the analyses could not support the conceptualized hypotheses. However, the results did not contradict the theory that claims that diversity in groups and R&D departments is positively linked to individual or group creativity, or company innovativeness, or, nevertheless, the company performance and profitability. In the study, we did not include all dimensions of employees’ diversity, rather we were focused just on the educational diversity of employees in R&D. The results of our analysis open new perspectives about R&D, especially the educational structure of employees in R&D and their impact on organizational performance. The conducted analysis showed that the education of R&D employees is more homogeneous in larger companies than in smaller ones. Moreover, we concluded that higher educational homogeneity in R&D leads to higher innovativeness and profitability of an organization.

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