Organizational Unlearning as Antecedent of Strategic Initiative Performance

Applying an organizational learning lens, this paper examines the role of organizational unlearning in strategic initiatives. Thereby, we intend to close an existing research gap since little is known about this subprocess of organizational learning, in particular in the context of strategic initiatives. Our proposed model reflects organizational unlearning as intentional happenings, though neither beneficial nor detrimental per se. We infer a curve-linear (inverted ushaped) impact on strategic initiative performance. Besides, we advance a more fine-grained view on the relationship between unlearning and initiative performance by considering the degree of exploration as a key contingency. A main contribution of the paper lies in the link to initiative performance. Complementing and extending prior insights, our findings suggest investments not only in learning activities but also in unlearning.