Toward Learning Organizations And Organizational Growth: Perspectives On Experiential Learning And Organizational Learning

Abstract

The current paper aims to develop a conceptual framework that addresses how institutional enablers of an organizational learning culture can influence both collective learning efficacy and experiential learning in knowledge-intensive or learning organizations. The study is not only based upon a review of complementary theoretical and empirical literature on organizational knowledge and experiential learning, but it also borrows numerous insights of John Dewey’s philosophical perspectives. Drawing from institutional theory and Experiential Learning Theory of Development and Growth (ELT), the study also suggests that employees’ collective learning efficacy will positively influence experiential learning, which is posited to surge the absorptive capacity (ACAP) of the firm. Additionally, the study suggests that plentiful investments in institutional enablers will ultimately lead to higher intensity of organizational knowledge through the lens of knowledge exploration and knowledge exploitation. It is ultimately theorized that the intensity of organizational learning is positively associated with a newly introduced metric of competitive advantage – “organizational growth” – through the collective learning of the individual employees in a frame of continuous learning.