1. Learning by Thinking: How Reflection Aids Performance
- Author
-
Francesca Gino, Giada Di Stefano, Bradley R. Staats, Gary P. Pisano, Groupement de Recherche et d'Etudes en Gestion à HEC (GREGH), Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales (HEC Paris)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), HEC Paris Research Paper Series, and Haldemann, Antoine
- Subjects
History ,knowledge ,Knowledge management ,Polymers and Plastics ,Experiential learning ,Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering ,Task (project management) ,Knowledge creation ,Pedagogy ,Relevance (information retrieval) ,Business and International Management ,Reflection (computer graphics) ,Microfoundations ,Self-efficacy ,learning ,Mechanism (biology) ,business.industry ,Cognition ,causal ambiguity ,General Medicine ,field experiment ,Organizational learning ,[SHS.GESTION]Humanities and Social Sciences/Business administration ,[SHS.GESTION] Humanities and Social Sciences/Business administration ,business ,Psychology ,codification ,self-efficacy ,Cognitive psychology - Abstract
In this paper, we build on research on the microfoundations of strategy and learning processes to study the individual underpinnings of organizational learning. We argue that once an individual has accumulated a certain amount of experience with a task, the benefit of accumulating additional experience is inferior to the benefit of deliberately articulating and codifying the experience accumulated in the past. We explain the superior performance outcomes associated with such deliberate learning efforts using both a cognitive (improved task understanding) and an emotional (increased self-efficacy) mechanism. We study the proposed framework by means of a mixed-method experimental design that combines the reach and relevance of a field experiment with the precision of two laboratory experiments. Our results support the proposed theoretical framework and bear important implications from both a theoretical and practical viewpoint.
- Published
- 2014