Process Innovation and Learning by Doing in Semiconductor Manufacturing
Management Science
Knowledge driven quality improvement
Management Science
Organizational Learning: Creating, Retaining, and Transferring Knowledge
Organizational Learning: Creating, Retaining, and Transferring Knowledge
The Architecture of Cognition
Behind the Learning Curve: Linking Learning Activities to Waste Reduction
Management Science
The Wealth of Nations
Unpacking Prior Experience: How Career History Affects Job Performance
Organization Science
Business Unit Reorganization and Innovation in New Product Markets
Management Science
Firms as Incubators of Open-Source Software
Information Systems Research
Profiting from Knowledge Management: The Impact of Time and Experience
Information Systems Research
Ownership, experience and defects: a fine-grained study of authorship
Proceedings of the 33rd International Conference on Software Engineering
Information Systems Research
Organizational Learning: From Experience to Knowledge
Organization Science
Action diversity in a simulation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
Computers in Human Behavior
A Hidden Markov Model of Developer Learning Dynamics in Open Source Software Projects
Information Systems Research
A Benchmarking Model for Management of Knowledge-Intensive Service Delivery Networks
Journal of Management Information Systems
The Learning Curve of IT Knowledge Workers in a Computing Call Center
Information Systems Research
Manufacturing & Service Operations Management
Organizational Learning as Credit Assignment: A Model and Two Experiments
Organization Science
A Benchmarking Model for Management of Knowledge-Intensive Service Delivery Networks
Journal of Management Information Systems
Selection at the Gate: Difficult Cases, Spillovers, and Organizational Learning
Organization Science
Single machine scheduling with autonomous learning and induced learning
Computers and Industrial Engineering
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Many organizational learning studies have an implicit assumption that the learning rate is maximized through specialization: the more an individual or organization focuses on a particular task, the faster it will improve. However, through contrasting the various learning process theories described in the research on organizational, group, and individual learning, we develop a set of competing hypotheses that suggest some degree of variation might improve the learning rate. Furthermore, such comparison yields competing arguments about how related or unrelated such task variation should be to improve the learning rate. This research uses an experimental study to answer the following research questions: Is the learning rate maximized through specialization? Or does variation, related or unrelated, enhance the learning process? We find that the learning rate under conditions of related variation is significantly greater than under conditions of specialization or unrelated variation, indicating the possibility of synergy between related learning efforts consistent with an implicit learning or insight effect. We find no significant differences in the rates of learning under the conditions of specialization and unrelated variation. These results yield important implications for how work should be organized, and for future research into the learning process.