The ability of organizations to learn and adapt to environmental changes is crucial for survival in today's competitive landscape. Peter Drucker's emphasis on qualified and educated personnel highlights the importance of organizational learning. The concept of the 'learning organization,' as defined by Senge (1990) and further developed by various researchers, emphasizes a system where continuous learning and knowledge application are integral. Different approaches to fostering learning organizations have emerged, including system thinking, strategic approaches, and integrative approaches. Learning organizations require a culture that supports learning, leadership that encourages it, and learning processes embedded throughout the structure. Transformational leadership is frequently cited as an effective style for creating learning organizations. This study, focusing on higher education institutions in Turkey's physical education and sports sector, specifically examines the interrelation of transformational leadership, personal cultural values, and the creation of a learning organization, an area under-researched in educational settings. The study hypothesizes that transformational leadership (H1) and personal cultural values (H2) are effective in creating learning organizations within this context. The inclusion of personal cultural values as a variable distinguishes this research.

The literature extensively explores the relationship between learning organizations and various factors such as organizational commitment, burnout, trust, job satisfaction, performance, innovation, and leadership styles. Studies have highlighted the effectiveness of transformational leadership in fostering learning organizations. However, research on the interplay of leadership and cultural values within educational institutions remains limited. The researchers note a gap in understanding how personal cultural values interact with leadership to influence the creation of learning organizations in Turkish higher education institutions, particularly in the physical education and sports sector.

This descriptive and correlational study employed a convenience sample of 328 academic staff from Turkish state universities' Faculties of Sports Sciences and Schools of Physical Education and Sports. Data were collected online via Google Forms due to the COVID-19 pandemic, using three validated scales: 1) The Learning Organization Dimensions Scale (Watkins and Marsick, 1997), adapted into Turkish by Basım et al. (2007), measuring seven dimensions of learning organizations; 2) The Transformational Leadership Scale (Podsakoff et al., 1990), adapted into Turkish by İşcan (2002), assessing five sub-dimensions of transformational leadership; and 3) The Personal Cultural Values Scale (Yoo et al., 2011), adapted into Turkish by the researchers, measuring five dimensions of Hofstede's cultural values at an individual level. A Personal Information Form collected demographic data. Data analysis involved Scatter Plot Matrix distributions, multivariate Mardia normality testing, and structural equation modeling (SEM) using maximum likelihood estimation. The researchers assessed the validity and reliability of the scales, reporting acceptable fit indices and Cronbach's alpha values.

Descriptive statistics revealed that the participating organizations were moderately categorized as learning organizations, employees exhibited moderate transformational leadership characteristics, and personal cultural values leaned toward femininity with strong uncertainty avoidance, long-term orientation, and collectivism, and low power distance. Correlations between learning organization dimensions, transformational leadership, and personal cultural values were below 0.800. SEM analysis largely supported H1, indicating that all five sub-dimensions of transformational leadership (providing vision-inspiration, accepting group goals, intellectual encouragement, individual interest, and high success expectations) strongly and positively predicted all seven dimensions of learning organizations (continuous learning, dialog and inquiry, team learning, embedded systems, empowerment, system connections, and supportive leadership). Path coefficients ranged from 0.87 to 0.96, with significant t-values (p<0.01) and high explained variance (R² = 0.75-0.92). Regarding H2, only the power distance and collectivism sub-dimensions of personal cultural values significantly and positively affected the dimensions of the learning organization (path coefficients between 0.89 and 0.95, p<0.01, R²=0.80-0.91). Uncertainty avoidance, masculinity, and long-term orientation showed no significant effect.

The findings strongly support the significant role of transformational leadership in fostering learning organizations, aligning with previous research in both educational and other institutional settings. The positive impact of transformational leadership is attributed to its ability to reshape the organizational environment to encourage collective and continuous learning, leading to change and development. The partial support for H2 suggests that personal cultural values exert a nuanced influence. The positive effect of power distance is unexpected but may reflect the influence of traditional authoritarian structures prevalent in the national culture, where authority contributes to active employee participation in organizational learning. The positive effect of collectivism underscores the value of cooperative teamwork and group belonging in creating learning organizations. The lack of effect from uncertainty avoidance, masculinity, and long-term orientation may be due to the employees' comfort level with ambiguity and their preferences for established procedures and maintaining the status quo. The findings diverge from some studies that found a weak relationship between Hofstede's cultural dimensions and learning organizations, but align with others showcasing the partial effect of personal cultural values on learning organizations.

Transformational leadership significantly contributes to creating learning organizations, while personal cultural values, specifically power distance and collectivism, play a partial but crucial role. Higher education institutions should focus on developing transformational leadership among managers and fostering a culture of continuous learning. Future research should explore the influence of mediating variables, such as organizational commitment and job satisfaction, utilize larger and more diverse samples, incorporate qualitative methods, and consider the perspectives of all stakeholders to gain a more comprehensive understanding.

The study's limitations include the use of a convenience sample from a specific sector of higher education in Turkey. The model may not be fully comprehensive, potentially omitting other crucial variables that mediate the relationships between leadership, cultural values, and learning organizations. The quantitative approach may not fully capture the complexity of these relationships, and the findings may not be generalizable beyond the study's context.