Three Essays on Interconnectedness Between Forms of Organizational Learning [electronic resource].

Abstract

problem and the need to manage the riskiness of adaptation afterwards. While exploration indeed provides knowledge that guides post-problem adaptation, which reduces the risk of searching over alternatives of differing and otherwise unknown quality, we show that exploration also skews firms' preferences towards solutions that in and of themselves have higher performance variation. As such, exploration can in fact increase the risk of problem-solving efforts. The arguments and findings for this essay are formalized through a multi-armed bandit computational model.

knowledge generated by a group of collaborating firms and knowledge internal to the firm: firms contribute their internal knowledge to a collaboration as a vehicle for interacting with other firms and absorb knowledge on other firms' contributions. By contributing, firms therefore build a collaboration-specific absorptive capacity. In contrast to prior conceptions of absorptive capacity, the knowledge that facilitates knowledge absorption is visible to all firms, and as such, high levels of knowledge contributions potentially reveal valuable strategic information to partnering firms. These hypotheses are tested using detailed meeting level data from the wireless industry. In contrast to the focus on learning sources in the first two essays, the third essay examines inter-temporal interconnections in a firm's learning objectives. In particular, the study examines the linkage between exploration prior to the emergence of a

This dissertation builds from the observation that organizational learning takes on multiple forms or dimensions, many of which are interconnected. It comprises three essays that explore the implications of this observation for (1) the dynamics of entry within an industry, (2) cooperation, often among rivals, in an industry, and (3) the riskiness of decision-making within a firm, respectively. The first essay theorizes a process whereby external knowledge is used in the process of experiential learning. This represents a departure from most prior work, which typically treats vicarious and experiential learning dichotomously. The key implication of this mechanism is that it represents a means by which entrants hold a learning advantage over incumbents, as this essay empirically demonstrates using a full census of U.S. banks. The second essay proposes a linkage between

Dissertation (Ph.D.)--University of Michigan. PhD

Includes bibliographical references.

problem and the need to manage the riskiness of adaptation afterwards. While exploration indeed provides knowledge that guides post-problem adaptation, which reduces the risk of searching over alternatives of differing and otherwise unknown quality, we show that exploration also skews firms' preferences towards solutions that in and of themselves have higher performance variation. As such, exploration can in fact increase the risk of problem-solving efforts. The arguments and findings for this essay are formalized through a multi-armed bandit computational model.

knowledge generated by a group of collaborating firms and knowledge internal to the firm: firms contribute their internal knowledge to a collaboration as a vehicle for interacting with other firms and absorb knowledge on other firms' contributions. By contributing, firms therefore build a collaboration-specific absorptive capacity. In contrast to prior conceptions of absorptive capacity, the knowledge that facilitates knowledge absorption is visible to all firms, and as such, high levels of knowledge contributions potentially reveal valuable strategic information to partnering firms. These hypotheses are tested using detailed meeting level data from the wireless industry. In contrast to the focus on learning sources in the first two essays, the third essay examines inter-temporal interconnections in a firm's learning objectives. In particular, the study examines the linkage between exploration prior to the emergence of a

This dissertation builds from the observation that organizational learning takes on multiple forms or dimensions, many of which are interconnected. It comprises three essays that explore the implications of this observation for (1) the dynamics of entry within an industry, (2) cooperation, often among rivals, in an industry, and (3) the riskiness of decision-making within a firm, respectively. The first essay theorizes a process whereby external knowledge is used in the process of experiential learning. This represents a departure from most prior work, which typically treats vicarious and experiential learning dichotomously. The key implication of this mechanism is that it represents a means by which entrants hold a learning advantage over incumbents, as this essay empirically demonstrates using a full census of U.S. banks. The second essay proposes a linkage between

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