Organizational Learning Mechanisms Research Articles

Learning from Failures: Differentiating Between Slip-ups and Knowledge Gaps

Our research investigates firm learning from failures by dividing them into two types, failures that occur due to slip-ups and those that occur due to knowledge gaps, and by examining whether learning occurs in the context of both types of failures. We study these phenomena in the context of product recalls in pharmaceuticals and medical devices. Based on text analysis of recall documents, recalls are divided into process related and design related to represent slip-up failures and knowledge gap failures. We further study how innovation capabilities, represented by accumulated stocks of patents and lagged research and development (R&D) intensity, impact learning from both types of failures. We test our hypotheses using negative binomial generalized linear models to analyze longitudinal data for 108 publicly traded U.S. firms over 2000–2016 comprising 7,984 recalls. Results indicate that design-related recalls generate learning to a greater extent than process-related recalls, and that accumulated patents and lagged R&D intensity enhance learning from design-related recalls. These findings suggest that the learning mechanisms invoked by failures are concentrated more on knowledge gap failures than slip-up failures, and such learning is impacted by innovation capabilities. Overall, this research extends organizational learning theory by differentiating between learning from different types of failures and extends absorptive capacity theory by incorporating the role of innovation capabilities in enhancing learning from failures. We develop recommendations for learning from slip-up failures by focusing on the cultural and social mechanisms of organizational learning in addition to the technical and structural mechanisms that may mainly impact learning from knowledge gap failures. Supplemental Material: The online appendices are available at https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2021.15663 .

Strategic alignment dimensions and structured practices of learning organizations: A case study of Wasit university

Learning organizations promote education by capitalizing on their 'strategic alignment'. However, an organizational strategy is a critical problem since it influences organizational efficiency and performance. This study aims to evaluate the strategic alignment dimensions' impact on the organization's learning practices. This research is quantitative, descriptive and explanatory. The confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) method was used to assess the research variables. The case under study is the Wasit University faculty giving access to a sample of 450 participants. A questionnaire was used to collect the data. Collected data were analyzed using SPSS V.25 and Amos.V.23 statistical programs. Research hypotheses were accepted and confirmed the statistical significance (p < 5%) of the influence of the strategic alignment dimensions which include telecommunication, organizational value, governance, partnership and workforce skills on the learning organization practices at Wasit University. The constructs retained in the strategic alignment dimensions of organizational learning indicated the availability of telecommunication, organizational value, governance, partnership and faculty skills. Universities should increase their interest in and investment in the mechanisms of organizational learning to facilitate the process of obtaining knowledge. It is essential to involve instructors and consider their views and capabilities when making strategic decisions.

Conceptualizing and Validating a Model for Benchlearning Capability: Results from the Greek Public Sector

This paper aims to report on the development and assessment of a conceptual model for benchlearning capability, which facilitates sustainable performance improvement. Following an in-depth literature review, two main dimensions of benchlearning capability were identified. A focus group approach was used in order to establish the connection between these dimensions and the main construct (benchlearning capability). A questionnaire was designed and administered to 502 individuals from 74 organizations that used the Common Assessment Framework, and a total of 163 respondents replied. For the structural model assessment, the PLS-SEM technique was employed. Literature reveals that benchlearning encompasses both comparative evaluation and organizational learning mechanisms. Moreover, the focus group concluded that Organizational Learning Capability (OLC) and Benchmarking Capability (BMKC) are positively related to Benchlearning Capability (BLNC). The quantitative analysis showed that the factor OLC and BMKC are related positively and significantly to BLNC. This paper is the first attempt to approach the benchlearning capability construct and to validate its model. It is also a first attempt towards providing empirical evidence that could help public managers understand the BLNC concept and formulate accordingly the appropriate strategy for improving the benchlearning capability and therefore achieving sustainable performance in their organizations.

Crowdsourcing a wellspring of value co-creation: an integration of social capital and organisational learning mechanisms

PurposeWith the advent of Internet technologies, shorter product life cycles and increasing competition, organisations have started looking for innovation sources outside the organisational boundaries. The external community of crowds can be used as a valuable source of co-creation in a company's innovation process to generate value. Despite its growing popularity, organisations often face difficulty capturing value from crowdsourcing due to the lack of proper mechanisms behind crowdsourcing-based value co-creation between a crowd and an organisation and their impact on organisational learning and innovation performance. The present study seeks to understand the crowdsourcing-based co-creation mechanism that influences knowledge transfer effectiveness and the organisation's absorptive capacity, resulting in improved innovation performance.Design/methodology/approachThe model was empirically tested using online survey data received from 300 managers of IT firms. Partial least squares structural equation modelling was used to test the model.FindingsThe empirical results reveal that crowdsourcing-based value co-creation causes structural, cognitive and relational linkages between a crowd and a firm, among which crowdsourcing-based cognitive linkage contributes more to organisational value capture. Further, an organisation's effective knowledge transfer and absorptive capacity play an important role in influencing the crowdsourcing-based-co-creation organisational learning-innovation performance framework.Originality/valueThis is the first and foremost study that has developed an integrated model using social capital dimensions to understand the entire mechanism behind crowdsourcing-based value co-creation between a crowd and an organisation and their impact on organisational learning and innovation performance. The study provides organisations with theoretical and practical implications of using crowdsourcing as a value co-creation tool and its effects on enhancing organisational learning and value capture.

Digital Transformation and Green Innovation of Chinese Firms: The Moderating Role of Regulatory Pressure and International Opportunities.

The digitalization of business processes has increasingly challenged conventional wisdom in corporate green innovation. This empirical paper studies the timely but theoretically underexplored relationship between digital transformation and green innovation in a developing country context. Given that firms’ digital transformation shifts organizational structures toward decentralization, we employ a digital perspective to analyze organizational coordination, control, and learning mechanisms and propose that digital transformation positively affects corporate green innovation. Moreover, drawing on structural contingency theory, we demonstrate that such effects can be strengthened by external contingencies, specifically regulatory pressure and international opportunities. Using a dataset of Chinese listed firms, we find empirical support for our hypotheses. Our study is one of the first to examine how firms can leverage organizational digital transformation to enhance their green innovation performance and thus provides new insights into the drivers of sustainable practices for firms in developing countries.

Managers' brokerage for business model innovation: A case study

Business model innovation is recognized as a key process for strengthening firms' performance in situations of strong competitive pressure and environmental changes. This process is driven by intra‐organizational advice networks between managers, which exchange different types of advice based on organizational learning mechanisms such as cognitive search (how to conceptualize and create a novel business model) and experiential learning (how to adapt and experiment a novel business model. Investigating what are the key figures emerging from such network is essential for an in‐depth understanding of the business model innovation process. By focusing on a multi‐unit firm operating in the personal care service industry, we use Social Network Analysis (SNA) to examine the brokerage role of managers when sharing different types of advice towards a novel business model. Our results show that middle‐level managers connect different managerial groups in different networks; however, differences exist between groups of middle managers, confirming their peculiar nature within organizations.

Research on the influence mechanism of university-enterprise collaboration: Evidence From five southern coastal provinces in China

Taking university-enterprise collaborative innovation in five southern coastal provinces of China as subjects, empirical research is implemented by constructing a theoretical model of the effects of interface resource integration, interface conflict management, interface connection mechanisms, and enterprise absorptive capacity on the university-enterprise collaborative innovation performance with the partial least squares structural equation modeling and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis. A total of 245 valid questionnaires were collected from five coastal provinces in south China. The research results show that the interface resource integration, interface connection mechanisms, and enterprise absorptive capacity has direct significant positive impacts on the collaborative innovation performance. Interface conflict management has no significant impact on school-enterprise collaborative innovation performance. Moreover, the interface connection mechanism acts as an intermediary. Therefore, it is suggested that university-enterprise should integrate resources with complementing, interacting, and sharing resources; construct the profit and risk-sharing mechanism, communication and trust mechanism, and organizational learning mechanism.

Research on the influence mechanism of university-enterprise collaboration: Evidence From five southern coastal provinces in China.

Taking university-enterprise collaborative innovation in five southern coastal provinces of China as subjects, empirical research is implemented by constructing a theoretical model of the effects of interface resource integration, interface conflict management, interface connection mechanisms, and enterprise absorptive capacity on the university-enterprise collaborative innovation performance with the partial least squares structural equation modeling and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis. A total of 245 valid questionnaires were collected from five coastal provinces in south China. The research results show that the interface resource integration, interface connection mechanisms, and enterprise absorptive capacity has direct significant positive impacts on the collaborative innovation performance. Interface conflict management has no significant impact on school-enterprise collaborative innovation performance. Moreover, the interface connection mechanism acts as an intermediary. Therefore, it is suggested that university-enterprise should integrate resources with complementing, interacting, and sharing resources; construct the profit and risk-sharing mechanism, communication and trust mechanism, and organizational learning mechanism.

Unveiling the Role of Cross-Cultural and Cognitive Differences in Organizational Learning Mechanism of Technology-Acquiring Cross-Border Mergers and Acquisitions: Evidence From Emerging Market Enterprises.

In recent years, cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&As) of emerging market enterprises (EMEs) have increased rapidly, and many cross-border M&A have been conducted in the United States, Western Europe, and other developed countries. This new type of technology-acquiring cross-border M&A has several unique features. In particular, the cross-cultural differences between the home country and the host country and the cognitive differences between emerging markets and developed markets pose a huge challenge to the organizational learning of technology-acquiring cross-border M&A of enterprises from emerging markets. Based on this, the present study innovatively constructs an integrated theoretical model to explore the role of cross-cultural and cognitive differences in the organizational learning mechanism of technology-acquiring cross-border M&A in emerging markets. In this study, the partial least squares structural equation model (PLS-SEM) was used in an empirical study of 240 Chinese technology-acquiring cross-border M&A enterprises, and it was found that cultural and cognitive differences play an important role in technical ability and learning performance. The study also found that the interaction of cross-cultural differences between the home and host countries and the cognitive differences between the emerging and developed markets promoted the learning performance of cross-border M&A in the emerging markets. Based on the integration theory of cultural differences, cognitive differences, and technical ability, this paper unveils the role of cross-cultural and cognitive differences in organizational learning mechanisms of technology-acquiring cross-border M&A.

Structures and relationships in organizational learning for change

PurposeMuch of the scholarship relating to educator learning in the context of school change centers on promising organizational structures that support educator knowledge-building and sharing. However, recent studies have found that educators' social networks also enhance learning of new practices. This study aims to explore how informal interactions support organizational learning in schools.Design/methodology/approachApplying structuration theory to concepts of organizational learning mechanisms, this paper proposes a framework for examining informal interactions and organizational learning. Employing an exploratory sequential mixed-methods design, this paper utilizes social network analysis of survey data and thematic analysis of interview data of a purposive sample of participants in a rural school district.FindingsWithin this rural district, organizational and social conditions supported recursive interactions where educators developed and shared knowledge of new instructional practices. Organizational resources and routines, and individuals' habits of mind mediated these recursive interactions, resulting in somewhat dependable knowledge-sharing spaces. Through these recursive interactions between individual agents acting within the opportunities and constraints of the normalized organizational expectations of each school, informal knowledge structures emerged.Originality/valueThis article applies structuration theory to examine organizational learning mechanisms in schools. This novel approach provides researchers with a new perspective on the organizational learning process—one that facilitates the exploration of the role of informal knowledge-building in this process.

Cognitively Complex Leaders: How Principals Influence Organizational Learning Through Climate for Innovation

Using an information-processing approach, the current innovative study examines a model for the prediction of organizational learning mechanisms (OLMs), linking school principals’ cognitive complexity and OLMs through the mediating effect of an innovative climate. The model was examined for three levels of principals’ cognitive complexity (high, intermediate, and low). Study participants were 131 principals and 1,279 teachers from 131 elementary schools in Israel. Results indicated that principals’ cognitive complexity promotes organizational learning mechanisms through a climate for innovation. The model with a high level of cognitive complexity showed a better fit to the data than those with intermediate (average) and low levels of cognitive complexity.

Examining the mediating Effect of Strategic Agility in the Relationship between Organizational Learning Mechanisms and Organizational Excellence: The Case of Kafrelsheikh University’s Employees

This study aims to investigate and deliberates the relationship between Organizational Learning Mechanisms, strategic agility, and organizational excellence in Employees of Kafrelsheikh University. Moreover, it examined the effect of strategic agility as a moderator of this relationship between Organizational Learning Mechanisms and organizational excellence. A total of 325 questionnaires were collected from respondents who were chosen from a stratified random sampling. The findings indicate that Organizational Learning Mechanisms and its dimensions, Knowledge recognition mechanisms, Knowledge assimilation mechanisms, and Knowledge exploitation mechanisms have a significant impact on strategic agility as well as organizational excellence. Moreover, the results indicate that strategic agility partial mediates the relationship between Organizational Learning Mechanisms and organizational excellence. The findings of this study can have significant implications for Employees of Kafrelsheikh University. The study observes that there is a critical shortage of Strategic Agility, Organizational Learning Mechanisms and that a greater understanding of the factors that influence the Organizational Excellence is needed, Therefore, Organizational Learning Mechanisms can lead to Organizational Excellence and Strategic Agility.

Effective Performance of Knowledge Management in Single-Specialty Cardiovascular Hospital

Introduction: Organizations can manage knowledge inside and create organizational learning mechanisms to integrate Knowledge Management (KM) at their core of strategic policies. Objective: This research was conducted to identify and prioritize influential factors on the effective performance of KM in a specialized cardiovascular on-call hospital. Materials and Methods: The methodology of this study was cross-sectional analytical. The statistical population included all personnel with Bauchler (BSc) and higher degrees in a specialty cardiovascular hospital in Karaj City, Iran (n=452). The data collection tool was a researcher-made 38-item questionnaire. The reliability of the research tool was estimated as 0.97 using the Cronbach α coefficient. The exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were performed to analyze the obtained data. Results: Based on the findings, 64.2% of the participants were females 48.37% had Bauchler degree. Five major factors were identified in the adequate performance of KM in hospitals, and they explained 76.21% of the general variance. Among these variables, technological and cultural factors (0.94) had the most and human factor (0.41) the least regressive weight. The knowledge management situation was lower than the mean score of the questionnaire (P=0.01, Mean±SD= 2.52±1.08). Conclusion: Organizational culture and technology are more important than other factors to establish KM. Therefore, maintaining and strengthening the cultural components affecting KM and establishing the necessary information technology should be the priorities of universities of medical sciences.

When firms embrace science: University alliances and firm drug development pipeline

AbstractTraditional model of closed innovation has been challenged, and firms in biomedical sciences are teaming up with universities to advance scientific discoveries and publish their research results in scholarly journals. This study examines the contingent nature of the relationship between university‐industry alliances and a firm's follow‐on contribution to open science in the context of therapeutic biotechnology. It integrates insights from organizational learning theory and sociology of science to explore boundary conditions of the efficacy of the organizational learning mechanism across the realms of business and academic science. Specifically, our contention is that, under certain circumstances, for‐profit firms are likely to learn from their university alliance partners how to harness the dynamics of the open system of scientific knowledge exchange and embrace open science. Our contingency model elucidates the moderating role of a firm's R&D pipeline of drug candidates in clinical development and a firm's R&D expertise diversity across therapeutic categories. The empirics are based on a longitudinal analysis of a sample of therapeutic biotechnology firms in the United States over the period 2003–2010. We estimate negative binomial models to test our predictions. In support of our hypotheses, our findings indicate that reaching out to university alliances is positively related to firms’ publishing with academic co‐authors when firms develop stronger R&D pipeline and more diverse R&D expertise across therapeutic categories. The results of our study point to complementarities between collaborations with universities and a firm's investments in strengthening and diversifying its drug development pipeline in the process of public knowledge creation.

Learning outcomes of leader and leadership development: Method of Soft and Female leadership (SFL) empirical framework for driving the gender equality change in Mediterranean Engineering Education.

The foundation of gender equality was built some decades ago, but higher education institutions are far from achieving it. Perhaps the leadership needs to integrate new narratives for a greater commitment especially in engineering, and new tools for the existing toolbox. This study aims to share the outcomes of soft female leadershipframework (SFL) development for gender equality at the RMEI network, entailing the commitment of top-managers from engineering schools, creation of new leaders to lead the change at their institutions, students acting as change-agents, and an active community of practice. The SFL toolbox comprises self-awareness, humanistic care, intuition, creativity, and trust. The transformation of mindset, skillset, and culture entails using Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), 'Systemic View of Life' arguments, and drawing knowledge from organizational learning frameworks, scientific phenomena, and mechanisms, such as a) 4I-Intuiting-Interpreting-Integrating-Institutionalizing organizational learning process starting from intuition to achieve an institutional change; b) 'Stigmergy' scientific mechanism of self-organized collective schemes with coordinated actions and interactions, in which the action performed by an agent leaves a trace in the environment that stimulates subsequent actions; c) 'Spillover' phenomenon advocating that the behavior of an agent can bring the adoption of related behaviors by other agents. The RMEI gender equality plan (GEP) was evaluated by the HORIZON2020 TARGET project consortium. The SFL excelled as successful in setting goals, articulating a policy that integrates systems approach frameworks, insights from science and technology, innovation, ecology, philosophy, self-awareness, ethics, and values. The Covid-19 pandemic disrupted physical meetings, but the process of change was not ceased at the network because we disrupted the disruption by boosting collaborative knowledge, consolidation and dissemination processes. TheSFL framework integrates context, regional, and temporal characteristics, alongside cognitive, affective, and motivational outcomes over behavioral outcomes, new mindsets beyond organizational skills, and collaborative learning over individual learning.

Contextualizing deliberate learning from acquisitions: The role of organizational and target contexts

Organizational and target contexts are antecedents of deliberate learning from mergers and acquisitions. We consider strategic orientations (market vs. entrepreneurial orientation) of firms as important organizational contexts driving knowledge codification behavior. Further, we argue that the target context (“in the market” vs. “out of the market”) is an important contingency factor in this relationship. The hypotheses of this study are tested using survey data from 115 acquirers in manufacturing industries from Austria, Germany, and Switzerland. The results provide insights into organizational learning mechanisms from previous acquisition activities. Entrepreneurial and market-oriented firms differ concerning their codification behavior. Market-oriented firms generally engage more in knowledge codification. Further, while market-oriented acquirers focus on knowledge codification from similar contexts (“in the market” targets), entrepreneurial-oriented acquirers focus on knowledge codification from heterogeneous contexts (“out of the market” targets). The results are discussed in-depth and theoretical and managerial implications are derived.

Organizational learning mechanisms for learning schools

PurposeOrganizational learning (OL) has been conceptualized as a critical component in school change processes. Nevertheless, OL in the school context is still somewhat obscure and difficult to comprehend, thus it is rarely translated into operational structures and processes and later permanently sustained. The purpose of this study is to present the organizational learning mechanisms (OLMs) framework as an institutionalized arrangement for collecting, disseminating, analyzing, storing, retrieving and using information that is relevant to the performance of school systems.Design/methodology/approachFirst, the authors examine the previous research on OLMs as a conceptual framework for OL in schools; then the authors present the various validated measures of OLMs in schools; and finally, the authors suggest implications for principals, as well as future explorations of the issue.FindingsWhile the literature on OL in schools acknowledges the mystification of the term and the difficulty in translating it into operative procedures in dynamic and complex contexts, OLMs, as an integration of structural and cultural frameworks, are conceptualized as scaffolding for the development of learning schools.Originality/valueThe OLMs’ (structural and cultural) framework of information processing may help schools develop and sustain learning communities aimed at fostering the continuous growth of students and faculty members alike.

Organizational learning during COVID-19: A qualitative study of nurses' experiences.

AimThe aim of this study is to test the validity of the Organizational Learning in Hospitals model in the context of the COVID‐19 pandemic.BackgroundOrganizational learning is especially crucial in circumstances of intense, complex, enduring change, as with the COVID‐19 pandemic. Nurse managers need additional guidance for fostering organizational learning under such circumstances. The Organizational Learning in Hospitals model may be a helpful resource but requires additional validation.MethodsSemi‐structured interviews were conducted to gather 19 nurses' first‐hand experiences of organizational learning during the COVID‐19 pandemic. Data were analysed using deductive thematic analysis.ResultsNurses' experiences of organizational learning generally aligned with the tenets of the model. Specifically, effective organizational learning occurred when the contextual factors and mechanisms portrayed in the model converged. Model and contrary cases illustrate this phenomenon.ConclusionsThis study validates and adds context to the model. It offers practical examples of the contextual factors and mechanisms of organizational learning. Leaders can use the model to guide their efforts to foster organizational learning.Implications for Nursing ManagementThis study reaffirms the importance of nurse leaders' central role in organizational learning. Nurse leaders can use the Organizational Learning in Hospitals model, and the practical examples provided, to foster organizational learning during challenging times.

Factors Affecting Organisational Learning: The Case of a Medical Centre

Despite many studies that examined the relationship between organisational learning and organisational culture, none examined whether the levels of learning differ within a given organisation and if so, what factors lead to this difference. This article is based upon a study on organisational learning and investigates the relationship among organisational learning, culture and structure. Quantitative research was conduct on organisational learning practices in 17 medical departments of a large hospital in Israel. Three main categories of variables were examined: mapping the learning mechanisms, characterising the organisational culture and examining the organisational structure of various departments. Organisational learning was measured by means of a set of organisational learning mechanisms used in each medical department. Because data were collected from individuals, it was necessary to control and overcome self-report and common method bias. Reverse scoring of items, the use of variation in wording of items and guaranteeing anonymity to respondents helped control common method bias. As expected, it was found that those departments do differ one from the others by the extent to which organisational learning mechanisms are systematically used. The article further presents and discusses the effects of some structural and cultural factors upon levels of organisational learning on those departments. Both the method and the results of this research differ from previous studies of organisational learning; thus, the article sheds a new light on the concept of organisational learning. The study points to the importance and need of organisations to adopt a culture that encourages use of these organisational learning mechanisms to create effective and ongoing organisational learning. Increasing awareness among hospital departments of organisational learning as an essential process for coping with environmental change is also an important practical contribution.

The Contribution of ‘Tarbiyah’ as Organizational Learning Mechanism towards the Sustainability of an Islamic-based Non-Governmental Organization and the Larger Community Wellbeing in Malaysia

The Contribution of ‘Tarbiyah’ as Organizational Learning Mechanism towards the Sustainability of an Islamic-based Non-Governmental Organization and the Larger Community Wellbeing in Malaysia