A contextual theory of organizational learning from failures and successes: a study of acquisition completion in the global newspaper industry, 1981-2008

Citation

Muehlfeld, K. (2012), "A contextual theory of organizational learning from failures and successes: a study of acquisition completion in the global newspaper industry, 1981-2008", Strategic Direction, Vol. 28 No. 11. https://doi.org/10.1108/sd.2012.05628kaa.008

A contextual theory of organizational learning from failures and successes: a study of acquisition completion in the global newspaper industry, 1981-2008

Article Type: Abstracts From: Strategic Direction, Volume 28, Issue 11

Muehlfeld K., , Sahib P.R. and , van Witteloostuijn A. Strategic Management Journal, August 2012, Vol. 33 No. 8, Start page: 938, No. of pages: 27

This study develops and tests theory about the context-specificity and outcome-dependence of experiential learning in acquisition processes. First, we investigate whether learning from experience gained in different acquisition contexts is limited to influencing subsequent outcomes of same-context transactions. Second, we analyze whether learning patterns in response to prior successes and failures differ across acquisition contexts, depending on two properties of these contexts – the degree of structural variance and the level of stimulation of deliberate learning. Learning is assessed with respect to an under explored organizational goal variable in acquisitions: completion of a publicly announced transaction. An analysis of 4,973 acquisition attempts in the newspaper industry in 1981-2008 largely supports our theory. Article type: Research paper ISSN: 0143-2095 Reference: 41AN736

Keywords: Acquisition completion, Contextualization, Experimental learning, Newspaper industry, Organizational learning