Organizational Learning as Credit Assignment: A Model and Two Experiments

Organization Science, Forthcoming

39 Pages Posted: 30 May 2012

See all articles by Christina Fang

Christina Fang

New York University (NYU) - Department of Management and Organizational Behavior

Date Written: July 12, 2011

Abstract

We outline a theoretical model of organizational learning curves to account for the empirical regularities observed in the literature. The learning mechanism in our model is the gradual recognition of important stepping stones to achieving the goal. As organizations gain experience, they discover the appropriate actions to take at each stage and reduce the number of the steps it takes to reach the final outcome. Using both simulation and human subject experiments, we show that this model accounts for existing empirical regularities related to the learning curves, variations in learning rates and organizational adaptation to new environments.

Keywords: Organization Learning Curves, Simulation, Experiments

JEL Classification: C91, C92

Suggested Citation

Fang, Christina, Organizational Learning as Credit Assignment: A Model and Two Experiments (July 12, 2011). Organization Science, Forthcoming, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1884253

Christina Fang (Contact Author)

New York University (NYU) - Department of Management and Organizational Behavior ( email )

44 West 4th Street
New York, NY 10012
United States