Gender and workplace learning

Purpose Firms must create optimum conditions in order for organizational learning to occur. To attain this goal it is imperative to address the social constructions of gender that can result in conditions, which can respectively serve to increase or hinder opportunities within different workplace contexts. Design/methodology/approach This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context. Findings Firms must create optimum conditions in order for organizational learning to occur. To attain this goal it is imperative to address the social constructions of gender that can result in conditions, which can respectively serve to increase or hinder opportunities within different workplace contexts. Originality/value The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.

Experimentation and Start-up Performance: Evidence from A/B Testing

Recent scholarship argues that experimentation should be the organizing principle for entrepreneurial strategy. Experimentation leads to organizational learning, which drives improvements in firm performance. We investigate this proposition by exploiting the time-varying adoption of A/B testing technology, which has drastically reduced the cost of testing business ideas. Our results provide the first evidence on how digital experimentation affects a large sample of high-technology start-ups using data that tracks their growth, technology use, and products. We find that, although relatively few firms adopt A/B testing, among those that do, performance improves by 30%–100% after a year of use. We then argue that this substantial effect and relatively low adoption rate arises because start-ups do not only test one-off incremental changes, but also use A/B testing as part of a broader strategy of experimentation. Qualitative insights and additional quantitative analyses show that experimentation improves organizational learning, which helps start-ups develop more new products, identify and scale promising ideas, and fail faster when they receive negative signals. These findings inform the literatures on entrepreneurial strategy, organizational learning, and data-driven decision making. This paper was accepted by Toby Stuart, entrepreneurship and innovation.

The Impact of Absorptive Capacity on Innovation: The Mediating Role of Organizational Learning

Although the relevant literature has already demonstrated the impact that absorptive capacity has on companies’ innovation capacity, we have found few studies that analyze the role of learning capability in this relationship. The main objective of this study was to examine the role of organizational learning in this relationship. For this purpose, a quantitative research approach was used. A total of 306 valid questionnaires were obtained from small and medium-sized Spanish companies in different sectors. The collected data were analyzed using the multivariate Partial Least Square (PLS) quantitative structural equation technique. According to the result, absorption capacity turns into innovation mainly when learning capacity is involved in this process. This study provides empirical evidence of this relationship and fills this gap. It can also help organizations understand and clarify what would be the most appropriate way in to manage knowledge to improve their innovation levels.

Learning at the Boundaries of Research and Practice: A Framework for Understanding Research–Practice Partnerships

Given the rapid growth of research–practice partnerships (RPPs), we need a framework that helps the field understand how RPPs can facilitate organizational learning in service of local educational improvement and transformation. Drawing on sociocultural and organizational learning theories, we argue that learning can happen for the organizations engaged in RPPs at the boundaries of research and practice. Such learning is evident when there are changes in collective knowledge, policies, and routines of participating organizations, with implications for longer-term outcomes of educational improvement and transformation locally and more broadly. The degree to which organizations can make use of the ideas from the RPP is dependent, in part, on the presence and design of boundary infrastructure and the preexisting organizational capacities and conditions. We conclude with implications for those engaging in RPPs and future research.

Organizational learning, resilience and psychological empowerment as antecedents of work engagement during COVID-19

PurposeThis paper aims to explore the relationship between organizational learning (OL) and work engagement (WE) in the Middle East region amid the COVID-19 pandemic and to test the mediating role of employee resilience (ER) and psychological empowerment (PE) on this relationship.Design/methodology/approachThe sample size was 208 respondents working in the Middle East area during COVID-19. Hypotheses were tested using regression analysis with bootstrapping.FindingsThe findings indicate a significant positive impact of OL on WE. Moreover, both constructs – ER and WE – were identified as mediators for this relationship.Practical implicationsPractical implications within this study call for organizations to focus on promoting a learning culture in order to adapt and respond effectively to unprecedented external challenges.Originality/valueThe current study extends previous research and strengthens the antecedents of WE, namely, OL, ER and PE in the Middle East region while controlling for COVID-19 perceptions.

Employee Competency Management Initiative: A Literature Review

This paper discussed the concept of employee competency management initiatives. The paper highlighted particularly on three competency management initiatives – employee training, workplace mentoring and coaching. The paper is theoretical and as such draws its significance from its focus on the need for flexible and fluid employee competency initiatives given the changing dynamics and features of the work and business environment. This position is also hinged on the observed challenges of change and the imperatives for organizational learning and management re-orientation in line with the shifts in the market and the global community. The study concludes that the adoption and application of competency initiatives should begin with the specific needs of the organization as well as the specification of its goals. The design and features of competency management initiatives such as employee training, workplace mentoring and coaching, premised on the specifications of the organizations own particular experiences and expectations will offer more focus and will be more effective in addressing the organizations own unique or particular challenges and problems