The Effect of Organizational Culture and Organizational Justice on Knowledge Management in Sports and Youth Departments of West Azerbaijan Province

Abstract

Purpose: The present study aimed to investigate the direct and indirect effects of organizational culture and organizational justice on knowledge management among employees of the Sports and Youth Departments of West Azerbaijan Province and to determine the extent to which these organizational factors contribute to knowledge acquisition, storage, distribution, transfer, and utilization.

Methodology: This applied descriptive-correlational study was conducted using a survey design among all employees of the Sports and Youth Departments of West Azerbaijan Province. The statistical population consisted of 69 employees, all of whom participated in the study through census sampling. Data were collected using three standardized instruments: the Fong and Choi Knowledge Management Questionnaire, the Niehoff and Moorman Organizational Justice Questionnaire, and the Robbins Organizational Culture Questionnaire. Knowledge management was assessed through four dimensions: knowledge acquisition, storage and maintenance, distribution and transfer, and deployment. Organizational justice included distributive, procedural, and interactional justice, while organizational culture was measured through nine dimensions including creativity and innovation, risk-taking, attention to detail, attention to outcomes, attention to employees, team orientation, ambitiousness, sustainability, and the impact of decision outcomes on employees. Data were analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) with SmartPLS 3 software.

Findings: The structural model demonstrated strong goodness-of-fit, acceptable reliability, and substantial predictive power. Organizational culture exerted a significant positive direct effect on knowledge management (β = 0.691, T = 2.100, p = 0.001), explaining approximately 69% of its variance. Organizational justice also had a significant positive direct effect on knowledge management (β = 0.853, T = 8.162, p = 0.001), accounting for nearly 85% of the variance. Among organizational justice dimensions, distributive justice (β = 0.868), interactional justice (β = 0.838), and procedural justice (β = 0.804) significantly contributed to the construct. Within organizational culture, risk-taking (β = 0.807), team orientation (β = 0.857), creativity and innovation (β = 0.776), attention to outcomes (β = 0.822), attention to detail (β = 0.732), ambitiousness (β = 0.724), sustainability (β = 0.652), attention to employees (β = 0.520), and the impact of decisions on employees (β = 0.864) significantly explained organizational culture. However, the direct relationship between organizational culture and organizational justice was not supported by the model. Knowledge storage and maintenance (β = 0.780) emerged as the strongest dimension of knowledge management, followed by knowledge deployment (β = 0.654), knowledge acquisition (β = 0.612), and knowledge distribution and transfer (β = 0.397).

Conclusion: The findings indicate that both organizational culture and organizational justice are critical determinants of effective knowledge management in sports organizations.