| The concept of the learning organization is well known and has been researched in many studies as an antecedent that infl uences organizational performance, including behavioral performance, cognitive performance, knowledge management, and fi nancial performance (Goh, Elliott, & Quon, 2012) . Conceptually, the learning organization is defi ned as an environmental factor that encourages system-thinking–based collaborative learning to facilitate continued performance improvement by providing strategic leadership support, environmental support, and individual-level care (Watkins & Marsick, 1993 , 1996 ). Empirically, many studies worldwide have approved the signifi – cant impact of the learning organization on organizational performance (Watkins & Dirani, 2013 ). Although the concept has been popularly researched in human resource development, management, and adult-learning disciplines, its application in other areas has recently received more attention based on rationales of the validity and applicability of the concept to the learning organization (Song, Martens, McCharen, & Ausburn, 2011 ). For example, several studies have been conducted in educational institutions such as schools and universities based on the assumption that they should be learning organizations because their mission is to improve the capability of people through teaching and learning activities (Örtenblad & Koris, 2014 ). In particular, workforce-education institutions have shown a growing interest in becoming learning organizations to address the challenges of facilitating eff ective education and enhancing student performance (Berkowitz, Bowen, Benbenishty, & Powers, 2013 ). However, there is still a dearth of application of the learning organization in the educational institutions in the non-Western context, such as the South Korean cultural context (Song, Kim, Chai, & Bae, 2014 ). Furthermore, the teachers’ individual behaviors and interactive school environment need to receive more attention in the collectivistic and hierarchical cultural context, which is diff erent from the Western cultural context. Because the educational policy at the governmental level in South Korea (Korea hereafter) has focused on improving (a) the curriculum, (b) the teacher–student relationship, and (c) the learning environment to inspire creativity and reform in schooling, the principal ’ s leadership-oriented school innovation was emphasized due to the Korean cultural and systematical contexts (Kim & Kim, 2005 ; Park & Jeong, 2013 ). Although the work engagement of teachers has received attention in Korean education institutions (e.g., Park, Song, Yoon, & Kim, 2014 ), more research on the teachers’ individual behaviors and interactive school environment should be conducted. In addition, the performance level of teachers is one of the most critical concerns in Korean education institutions (Song et al., 2014 ). |