Journal of Contemporary Issues in Business and Government


Print ISSN: 2204-1990

Online ISSN: 1323-6903

Volume27, Issue2

A Systematic Review of Literature on Organizational Unlearning and Forgetting

Journal of Contemporary Issues in Business and Government, 2021, Volume 27, Issue 2, Pages 1143-1154
10.47750/cibg.2021.27.02.133

Abstract

Purpose – Unlearning has been one of the interesting and debatable construct emerged in studies of organizational behaviour. Discussion on this phenomenon precedes from interdisciplinary realms ranging from psychology to pedagogy approaching towards arena of business studies. Studies often question the applicability of its existence and practical applications. Starting from the base of unlearning this paper attempts to enfolds the multi-foci perspectives associated with unlearning. Aiming to analyse the construct, this paper provides an insight to definitional notions, account of existing stream of work, its unit of analysis at individual and organizational level and finally discussion of routines structured on unlearning perspective.
Design/methodology/approach – A systematic analysis and review is proposed in order to study streams of literature existing on phenomenon existing on unlearning. This systematic review will help in stating various definitional notions of unlearning, identifying the theoretical lenses applied, processes underlying the unlearning mechanism and extent of quantitative and qualitative studies carried out.
Originality/value – As the study is conceptual in its nature, therefore it aims to contribute towards identifying and enhancing the literature of unlearningby identifying gaps and future avenues. Enlightening the applicability of unlearning in multiple sectors it enhances its dimensionality.
Practical implications – Study can be helpful for managers and organizations, as unlearning is rooting from change management, which would provide new revelations for organization as useful tools. Review provides insights to areas which can be useful for future studies.
Keywords:
Main Subjects:

  1. Akgün, A. E., Byrne, J. C., Lynn, G. S., & Keskin, H. (2007a). New product development in turbulent environments: Impact of improvisation and unlearning on new product performance. Journal of Engineering and Technology Management, 24(3), 203-230. doi:10.1016/j.jengtecman.2007.05.008
  2. Akgün, A. E., Byrne, J. C., Lynn, G. S., & Keskin, H. (2007b). Organizational unlearning as changes in beliefs and routines in organizations. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 20(6), 794-812. doi:10.1108/09534810710831028
  3. Akgün, A. E., Lynn, G. S., & Byrne, J. C. (2003). Organizational Learning: A Socio-Cognitive Framework. Human Relations, 56(7), 839-868. doi:10.1177/00187267030567004
  4. Akhshik, S. S. (2014). An Empirical Analysis of the Impact of Demutualization on Stock Exchange Performance: Lessons for Zimbabwe. International Journal of Economics & Management Sciences, 3(3), 1-7. doi:10.4172/2162-6359.1000161
  5. Akhshik, S. S., & Parirokh, M. (2016). The dance of change in libraries: a case study of FUM libraries merger in Iran. Library Management, 37(8/9), 520-534. doi:10.1108/lm-07-2016-0055
  6. Aledo Ruíz, M. D., Gutiérrez, J. O., Martínez-Caro, E., & Cegarra-Navarro, J. G. (2017). Linking an unlearning context with firm performance through human capital. European Research on Management and Business Economics, 23(1), 16-22. doi:10.1016/j.iedeen.2016.07.001
  7. Assink, M. (2006). Inhibitors of disruptive innovation capability: a conceptual model. European Journal of Innovation Management, 9(2), 215-233. doi:10.1108/14601060610663587
  8. Aydin, E., & Gormus, A. S. (2015). Does organizational forgetting matter? Organizational survival for life coaching companies. The Learning Organization, 22(3), 150-162. doi:10.1108/tlo-12-2014-0068
  9. Azmi, F. T. (2008). Mapping the learn-unlearn-relearn model: Imperatives for strategic management. European Business Review, 20(3), 240-259.
  10. Bannon, L. J. (2006). Forgetting as a feature, not a bug: the dualityof memory and implications for ubiquitous computing. CoDesign, 2(1), 3-15. doi:10.1080/15710880600608230
  11. Becker, K., Hyland, P., & Acutt, B. (2006). Considering unlearning in HRD practices: an Australian study. Journal of European Industrial Training, 30(8), 608-621. doi:10.1108/03090590610712278
  12. Becker, K., Örtenblad, A., & Örtenblad, A. (2018). Organizational unlearning: time to expand our horizons? The Learning Organization, 00-00. doi:10.1108/tlo-10-2017-0095
  13. Bettis, R. A., & Prahalad, C. K. (1995). The dominant logic: Retrospective and extension. Strategic management journal, 16(1), 5-14.
  14. Bowker, G. C. (1997). Lest we remember: Organizational forgetting and the production of knowledge.Accounting, Management and Information Technologies, 7(3), 113-138.
  15. Brook, C., Pedler, M., Abbott, C., & Burgoyne, J. (2015). On stopping doing those things that are not getting us to where we want to be: Unlearning, wicked problems and critical action learning. Human Relations, 69(2), 369-389. doi:10.1177/0018726715586243
  16. Casey, A. J., & Olivera, F. (2011). Reflections on Organizational Memory and Forgetting. Journal of Management Inquiry, 20(3), 305-310. doi:10.1177/1056492611408264
  17. Cegarra-Navarro, J.-G., & Cepeda Carrión, G. (2013). Implementing telemedicine technologies through an unlearning context in a homecare setting. Behaviour & Information Technology, 32(1), 80-90. doi:10.1080/0144929x.2011.586726
  18. Cegarra-Navarro, J.-G., Sánchez-Vidal, M.-E., & Cegarra-Leiva, D. (2016). Linking Unlearning with Work-Life Balance: An Initial Empirical Investigation into SMEs. Journal of Small Business Management, 54(1), 373-391. doi:10.1111/jsbm.12151
  19. Cegarra-Navarro, J.-G., Soto-Acosta, P., & Martinez-Caro, E. (2016). Linking counter-knowledge to goal orientation through an unlearning context — A study from a Spanish University. Learning and Individual Differences, 45, 260-267. doi:10.1016/j.lindif.2015.11.005
  20. Cegarra-Navarro, J.-G., Wensley, A. K., & Sánchez-Polo, M.-T. (2010). An application of the hospital-in-the-home unlearning context. Social work in health care, 49(10), 895-918.
  21. Cegarra-Navarro, J., & Sanchez-Polo, M. (2008). Linking the individual forgetting context with customer capital from a seller's perspective. Journal of the Operational Research Society, 59(12), 1614-1623.
  22. Cegarra‐Navarro, J. G., & Dewhurst, F. W. (2006). Linking shared organisational context and relational capital through unlearning. The Learning Organization, 13(1), 49-62. doi:10.1108/09696470610639121
  23. Cegarra‐Navarro, J. G., Martinez‐Martinez, A., Ortega Gutiérrez, J., & Luis Leal Rodríguez, A. (2013). Environmental knowledge, unlearning, and performance in hospitality companies. Management Decision, 51(2), 341-360. doi:10.1108/00251741311301858
  24. Cegarra Navarro, J. G., Cepeda-Carrion, G., & Eldridge, S. (2011). Balancing technology and physician–patient knowledge through an unlearning context. International Journal of Information Management, 31(5), 420-427. doi:10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2010.12.006
  25. Cegarra Navarro, J. G., Wensley, A. K. P., & Polo, M. T. S. (2017). A conceptual framework for unlearning in a homecare setting. Knowledge Management Research & Practice, 12(4), 375-386. doi:10.1057/kmrp.2013.6
  26. Cepeda-Carrion, G., Cegarra-Navarro, J. G., & Jimenez-Jimenez, D. (2010). The Effect of Absorptive Capacity on Innovativeness: Context and Information Systems Capability as Catalysts. British Journal of Management, no-no. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8551.2010.00725.x
  27. Cepeda-Carrion, G., Navarro, J. G. C., & Martinez-Caro, E. (2012). Improving the absorptive capacity through unlearning context: an empirical investigation in hospital-in-the-home units. The Service Industries Journal, 32(9), 1551-1570. doi:10.1080/02642069.2010.545876
  28. de Holan, P. M., & Phillips, N. (2004). Organizational forgetting as strategy: Sage Publications Sage CA: Thousand Oaks, CA.
  29. Easterby-Smith, M., & Lyles, M. A. (2011). In Praise of Organizational Forgetting. Journal of Management Inquiry, 20(3), 311-316. doi:10.1177/1056492611408508
  30. Fernandez, V., & Sune, A. (2009). Organizational forgetting and its causes: an empirical research. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 22(6), 620-634. doi:10.1108/09534810910997032
  31. Fiol, C. M., & O’Connor, E. J. (2017). Unlearning established organizational routines – Part II. The Learning Organization, 24(2), 82-92. doi:10.1108/tlo-09-2016-0063
  32. Fiol, M., & O’Connor, E. (2017). Unlearning established organizational routines – Part I. The Learning Organization, 24(1), 13-29. doi:10.1108/tlo-09-2016-0056
  33. Ford, J. D., Ford, L. W., & D'Amelio, A. (2008). Resistance to change: The rest of the story. Academy of management Review, 33(2), 362-377.
  34. Gabriel Cegarra-Navarro, J., Sánchez-Vidal, M. E., & Cegarra-Leiva, D. (2011). Balancing exploration and exploitation of knowledge through an unlearning context: An empirical investigation in SMEs. Management Decision, 49(7), 1099-1119.
  35. Grisold, T., Kaiser, A., & Hafner, J. (2017). Unlearning before creating new knowledge: A cognitive process. Paper presented at the Proceedings of the 50th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences.
  36. Gutiérrez, J. O., Navarro, J. G. C., Carrión, G. A. C., & Rodríguez, A. L. L. (2015). Linking unlearning with quality of health services through knowledge corridors. Journal of Business Research, 68(4), 815-822.
  37. Hill, M. E., & Cromartie, J. (2004). That Which Is “Not:” Forgetting …. Consumption Markets & Culture, 7(1), 69-98. doi:10.1080/1025386042000212400
  38. Hislop, D., Bosley, S., Coombs, C. R., & Holland, J. (2013). The process of individual unlearning: A neglected topic in an under-researched field. Management Learning, 45(5), 540-560. doi:10.1177/1350507613486423
  39. Holan, P. M. d., & Phillips, N. (2004). Remembrance of Things Past? The Dynamics of Organizational Forgetting. Management Science, 50(11), 1603-1613. doi:10.1287/mnsc.1040.0273
  40. Howells, J., & Scholderer, J. (2016). Forget unlearning? How an empirically unwarranted concept from psychology was imported to flourish in management and organisation studies. Management Learning, 47(4), 443-463. doi:10.1177/1350507615624079
  41. Huang, D., Chen, S., Zhang, G., & Ye, J. (2018). Organizational forgetting, absorptive capacity, and innovation performance. Management Decision, 56(1), 87-104. doi:10.1108/md-03-2017-0200
  42. Johannessen, J. A., & Hauan, A. (1994). Organizational Unlearning. Creativity and Innovation Management, 3(1), 43-53.
  43. Klammer, A., & Gueldenberg, S. (2016). Organizational Unlearning and Forgetting–A Systematic Literature Review. Proceedings IFKAD, 306-321.
  44. Lawrence, M. (2018). Taking Stock of the Ability to Change: The Effect of Prior Experience. Organization Science. doi:10.1287/orsc.2017.1181
  45. Leal-Rodríguez, A. L., Eldridge, S., Ariza-Montes, J. A., & Morales-Fernández, E. J. (2015). Understanding How Organizational Culture Typology Relates to Organizational Unlearning and Innovation Capabilities. Journal of the Knowledge Economy. doi:10.1007/s13132-015-0344-6
  46. Leal-Rodríguez, A. L., Eldridge, S., Roldán, J. L., Leal-Millán, A. G., & Ortega-Gutiérrez, J. (2015). Organizational unlearning, innovation outcomes, and performance: The moderating effect of firm size. Journal of Business Research, 68(4), 803-809. doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2014.11.032
  47. Lowrance, T. L. (2017). Exploring the Four Modes of Organizational Forgetting in an Organization Post Acquisition. The George Washington University.  
  48. Mariano, S., & Casey, A. (2015). Is organizational innovation always a good thing? Management Learning, 46(5), 530-545. doi:10.1177/1350507615569429
  49. Mariano, S., & Casey, A. (2016). The Dynamics of Organizational Routines in a Startup: The Ereda Model. European Management Review, 13(4), 251-274. doi:10.1111/emre.12080
  50. Martin de Holan, P. (2011a). Agency in Voluntary Organizational Forgetting. Journal of Management Inquiry, 20(3), 317-322. doi:10.1177/1056492611408265
  51. Martin de Holan, P. (2011b). Organizational Forgetting, Unlearning, and Memory Systems. Journal of Management Inquiry, 20(3), 302-304. doi:10.1177/1056492611409651
  52. Matsuo, M. (2017a). Managers’ exploration activities and individual unlearning: the mediating role of learning orientation and reflection. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 1-19. doi:10.1080/09585192.2017.1362022
  53. Matsuo, M. (2017b). The Unlearning of Managerial Skills: A Qualitative Study of Executive Officers. European Management Review. doi:10.1111/emre.12122
  54. Matsuo, M. (2018). Goal orientation, critical reflection, and unlearning: An individual-level study. Human Resource Development Quarterly, 29(1), 49-66. doi:10.1002/hrdq.21303
  55. Moon, H., & Ruona, W. (2015). Towards a deeper understanding of strategic learning. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 36(6), 657-674. doi:10.1108/lodj-10-2013-0139
  56. Moon, H., Ruona, W., & Valentine, T. (2017). Organizational strategic learning capability: exploring the dimensions. European Journal of Training and Development, 41(3), 222-240. doi:10.1108/ejtd-08-2016-0061
  57. Morais-Storz, M., & Nguyen, N. (2017). The role of unlearning in metamorphosis and strategic resilience. The Learning Organization, 24(2), 93-106. doi:10.1108/tlo-12-2016-0091
  58. Pedler, M., & Hsu, S.-w. (2014). Unlearning, critical action learning and wicked problems. Action Learning: Research and Practice, 11(3), 296-310. doi:10.1080/14767333.2014.945897
  59. Pettigrew, A. M., Woodman, R. W., & Cameron, K. S. (2001). Studying organizational change and development: Challenges for future research. Academy of management journal, 44(4), 697-713.
  60. Prahalad, C. K., & Bettis, R. A. (1986). The dominant logic: A new linkage between diversity and performance. Strategic management journal, 7(6), 485-501.
  61. Rezazade Mehrizi, M. H., & Lashkarbolouki, M. (2016). Unlearning Troubled Business Models: From Realization to Marginalization. Long Range Planning, 49(3), 298-323. doi:10.1016/j.lrp.2015.12.005
  62. Rigg, C. (2016). Conscious unlearning, unconscious unlearning and forgetfulness – a plea to record our action learning experiences. Action Learning: Research and Practice, 13(3), 199-200. doi:10.1080/14767333.2016.1220173
  63. Rupčić, N. (2017). How to unlearn and change – that is the question! The Learning Organization, 24(2), 127-130. doi:10.1108/tlo-12-2016-0092
  64. Schraeder, M., Jordan, M. H., Self, D. R., & Hoover, D. J. (2016). Unlearning cynicism. International Journal of Organizational Analysis, 24(3), 532-547. doi:10.1108/ijoa-05-2013-0674
  65. Seddighi, H. R. (2015). A model of a firm’s innovation and growth in a knowledge-based economy. Journal of the Knowledge Economy, 6(2), 215-227.
  66. Sheaffer, Z., & Mano‐Negrin, R. (2003). Executives' Orientation as Indicators of Crisis Management Policies and Practices. Journal of Management Studies, 40(2), 573-606.
  67. Snihur, Y., Örtenblad, A., & Örtenblad, A. (2018). Responding to business model innovation: organizational unlearning and firm failure. The Learning Organization, 00-00. doi:10.1108/tlo-03-2017-0032
  68. Srithika, T. M., & Bhattacharyya, S. (2009). Facilitating Organizational Unlearning using Appreciative Inquiry as an Intervention. Vikalpa, 34(4), 67-78.
  69. Stace, D., & Bhalla, A. (2008). Sustaining the ‘connective tissue’ of customer relationships. Strategic Change, 17(3-4), 57-68. doi:10.1002/jsc.816
  70. Starbuck, W. H. (2017). Organizational learning and unlearning. The Learning Organization, 24(1), 30-38. doi:10.1108/tlo-11-2016-0073
  71. Tsang, E. W. K. (2008). Organizational learning and unlearning:Transferring Knowledge to greenfield versus acquistion joint ventures. Management Learning, 39(1), 5-20.
  72. Tsang, E. W. K. (2017). How the concept of organizational unlearning contributes to studies of learning organizations. The Learning Organization, 24(1), 39-48. doi:10.1108/tlo-10-2016-0064
  73. Tsang, E. W. K., & Zahra, S. A. (2008). Organizational unlearning. Human Relations, 61(10), 1435-1462. doi:10.1177/0018726708095710
  74. Usman, M., Hameed, A. A., & Manzoor, S. (2018). Exploring the links between Ethical Leadershi p and Organizational Unlearning: A Case Study of a European Multinational Company. Business and Economic Review, 10(2), 29-54.
  75. Van de Ven, A. H., & Poole, M. S. (1995). Explaining development and change in organizations. Academy of management Review, 20(3), 510-540.
  76. Vieira, C. L. C., Briones‐Peñalver, A. J., & Cegarra‐Navarro, J. G. (2015). Absorptive Capacity and Technology Knowledge: Enhancing Relational Capital. Knowledge and Process Management, 24(4), 305-317. doi:10.1002/kpm
  77. Wang, X., Xi, Y., Xie, J., & Zhao, Y. (2017). Organizational unlearning and knowledge transfer in cross-border M&A: the roles of routine and knowledge compatibility. Journal of Knowledge Management, 21(6), 1580-1595. doi:10.1108/jkm-03-2017-0091
  78. Wensley, A. K. P., & Navarro, J. G. C. (2015). Overcoming knowledge loss through the utilization of an unlearning context. Journal of Business Research, 68(7), 1563-1569. doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2015.01.052
  79. Windeknecht, K., & Delahaye, B. (2004). A model of individual and organisational unlearning. In Proceedings 18th annual Conference of the Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management, Dunedin, NZ.
  80. Yang, K.-P., Chou, C., & Chiu, Y.-J. (2014). How unlearning affects radical innovation: The dynamics of social capital and slack resources. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 87, 152-163. doi:10.1016/j.techfore.2013.12.014
  81. Yazeen, Z., & Okour, A. (2012). Managing organizational change: Decision’s maker perceptions in the UAE manufacturing industry. International Journal of Research Studies in Management, 1(1), 97-108.
  82. Yildiz, H. E., & Fey, C. F. (2010). Compatibility and unlearning in knowledge transfer in mergers and acquisitions. Scandinavian Journal of Management, 26(4), 448-456. doi:10.1016/j.scaman.2010.09.010
  83. Zahra, S. A., Abdelgawad, S. G., & Tsang, E. W. K. (2011). Emerging Multinationals Venturing Into Developed Economies: Implications for Learning, Unlearning, and Entrepreneurial Capability. Journal of Management Inquiry, 20(3), 323-330. doi:10.1177/1056492611408266
  84. Zhao, Y., Lu, Y., & Wang, X. (2013). Organizational unlearning and organizational relearning: a dynamic process of knowledge management. Journal of Knowledge Management, 17(6), 902-912. doi:10.1108/jkm-06-2013-0242

 

 

  • Article View: 168
  • PDF Download: 193
Journal Information

Publisher: Society of Business and management

Email:  chiefeditor.cibg@gmail.com