A Network Dynamic of Experimental Learning Cycle for Early-Stage Project Success

Abstract

Early-stage project success does not depend exclusively on network activities but on a dynamic that can switch cognitive structures to behave in ways consistent with the expectations of network needs. By using a quasi-field experiment, this study finds that two types of networks determine the relationship between network embeddedness and early-stage project success via two distinct mechanisms of the experimental learning cycle: Knowledge embeddedness in knowledge networks increases early-stage project success and this relationship is mediated by failure analysis of the experimental learning cycle; social embeddedness in social networks increases early-stage project success and this relationship is mediated by tolerance for failure of the experimental learning cycle. This study sketches out a simple network dynamic, “What–Who–How”, for early-stage project success and illuminates the idea of Learning by Networking.