1990/02/23 by Linda Argote, Dennis Epple · 1,331 citations
Business, Management and Accounting · Economics, Econometrics and Finance · Psychology · #Business #Cognitive psychology #Computer science #Economic growth #Economics #Firm Innovation and Growth #Forgetting #Industrial organization #Innovation and Knowledge Management #Intellectual Capital and Performance Analysis #Knowledge management #Learning curve #Learning organization #Management #Microeconomics #Organizational learning #Physics #Production (economics) #Productivity #Psychology #Scale (ratio) #Turnover
paper · doi:10.1126/science.247.4945.920
published in Science 247(4945), 920-924 (American Association for the Advancement of Science)
openalex publication_date 1990/02/23 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/23
Large increases in productivity are typically realized as organizations gain experience in production. These "learning curves" have been found in many organizations. Organizations vary considerably in the rates at which they learn. Some organizations show remarkable productivity gains, whereas others show little or no learning. Reasons for the variation observed in organizational learning curves include organizational "forgetting," employee turnover, transfer of knowledge from other products and other organizations, and economies of scale.