Learning to Execute: Exploring New Process Implementation in a Large Retail Chain

Abstract

In this paper, I examine the impact of differences in human capital on new process implementation in a large US-based retail chain to understand the extent to which individual stores learn to properly execute a new organizational practice. Initial findings show that, on average, stores dramatically improve new process execution over time. Unsurprisingly, the tenure and newness of employees executing and of managers overseeing the practice impact the number of errors and subsequent rate of learning associated with the store. The human capital findings are consistent with the routines literature which would suggest that routines become engrained and are hard to change, especially among more tenured employees. However, even after examining both the store and the human capital differences between store locations, much variation in the rate of errors remains unexplained. A contributing factor to this remaining variation in the rate of learning seems to be the district, the seven to eleven store grouping based on geographical location, to which a store belongs. I am currently examining the district effect further to understand the mechanism by which districts collectively learn this relatively independent store practice.