Organizational unlearning

2008/09/30 by Eric W.K. Tsang, Eric W. K. Tsang, Shaker A. Zahra · 407 citations
Business, Management and Accounting · Psychology · #Adaptation (eye) #Computer science #Epistemology #Innovation and Knowledge Management #Intellectual Capital and Performance Analysis #Knowledge management #Meaning (existential) #Organization development #Organizational Learning and Leadership #Organizational behavior and human resources #Organizational commitment #Organizational learning #Organizational studies #Philosophy #Psychology #Psychotherapist #Social psychology #Sociology

paper · doi:10.1177/0018726708095710

published in Human Relations 61(10), 1435-1462 (SAGE Publishing)

openalex publication_date 2008/09/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/26

Abstract

Organizational unlearning is widely considered an important condition for successful adaptation to environmental changes, promoting organizational learning and enhancing a firm's performance. Yet, organizational unlearning has received scant attention in the literature, making theory building difficult. This article defines and clarifies the meaning of organizational unlearning, distinguishes it from organizational learning, articulates its dimensions and discusses ways organizations can unlearn.

Citations

• Reconceptualizing Organizational Routines as a Source of Flexibility and Change

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• Unlearning as resistance and justice: Toward healing and transforming
• Organisational learning, learning organisation, and learning orientation: An integrative review and framework
• Management and sustenance of digital transformations in the Irish microbusiness sector: examining the key role of microbusiness owner-manager
• Imaginative (un)learning in leadership education: how cognitive tools and community-based collaboration cultivate imaginations
• Global value chains: A review of the multi-disciplinary literature
• Rethinking capacity building for knowledge mobilisation: developing multilevel capabilities in healthcare organisations. [europepmc]
• Cognitive foundations of organizational learning: re-introducing the distinction between declarative and non-declarative knowledge. [europepmc]
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• Now or never: Organizational forgetting as a determinant of knowledge sharing and cross-boundary innovation. [europepmc]
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• Recent findings on organizational unlearning and intentional forgetting research (2019-2022). [europepmc]
• [Design Challenges in the Virtual Space-A Field Report and Recommendations for Action]. [europepmc]
• Leverage points for resilience: Introducing the pyramid framework for strategic adaptation planning and assessment. [europepmc]
• Designing an AI companion to support informal caregivers in role transition: insights from a design science approach. [europepmc]
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• On the shoulders of giants: uncovering key themes of organizational unlearning research in mainstream management journals [europepmc]
• Exogenous Shocks and Business Process Management : A Scholars’ Perspective on Challenges and Opportunities [europepmc]
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