ABSTRACT Cultural aspects of organizations have been perceived as keys to creating desirable organizational performance in pursuit of an effective government. Particularly, organizational learning culture may enable individuals to learn from each other allowing them to feel free to create creative ideas and transfer knowledge. This study examines whether organizational learning culture is associated with organizational performance through the mediating effect of employee empowerment. Using the Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey data, the findings show that having organizational culture more conducive to learning is indirectly and positively associated with perceived performance. The study supports that empowerment is an important mediator elucidating the positive association between learning culture and performance.