"Problems Context, Quality of Organizational Attention, and Learning from Rare Events (WITHDRAWN)"

Abstract

Organizational learning from rare events is an emerging topic in the field of organizational learning in recent years. Researchers have paid more attention on the single rare event, yet little is known about the internal link between the current events and prior events. In fact, the superposition of relevant events can reinforce the problems context, so that organizations can improve the organizational learning effectiveness by enhancing the quality of organization attention. Using data on accidents and incidents experienced by U.S.-based commercial airlines from 1991 to 2010, we investigate the relationships between attentional quality and learning effectiveness from rare events in problems context. Specifically, the effect of attentional stability is: the more reoccurrence the rare events, the better the leaning effectiveness. The longer intervals between related events, the better the learning effectiveness. The effect of attentional vividness is: A U-shaped relationship exists between the external vividness and learning effectiveness from rare events. An inverted U-shaped relationship exists between the internal vividness and learning effectiveness from rare events.