| Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools. |
Why Open-mindedness Needs Time to Explore and Exploit KnowledgeFacultad de Ciencias de la Empresa, Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena, Paseo Alfonso XIII, 50, 30203 Cartagena (Murcia), Spain, Juan.Cegarra{at}upct.es
Departamento de Administración de Empresas y Marketing, Universidad de Sevilla, Ramón y Cajal, 1, 41018 Sevilla, Spain, Gabi{at}us.es It is clear from the literature that in situations where organizations and their members face changing environments, it is necessary that mechanisms (learning) exist to capture the new knowledge which enables the firms to address those changes. This article examines the relative importance and significance of the existence of an `open-mindedness context' to the existence and nature of `organizational learning'. We include time as a variable in the analysis and focus on the need to unlearn at a moment (T) in order to learn more efficiently at a moment after (T+1). These relationships are examined through an empirical investigation of 107 Spanish small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) within the telecommunications industry. The results indicate that the effects of exploration and exploitation of knowledge at moment T+1 is conditioned by the existence of an `open-mindedness culture' at moment T.
Key Words: exploiting knowledge • exploring knowledge • open-mindedness • time
Time & Society, Vol. 17, No. 2-3,
195-213 (2008) |
|||
 |
|
|
 |
|
Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
