The role of organizational learning in stakeholder

Authors: Jeannette A Mena Brian R Chabowski

Publish Date: 2015/05/05

Volume: 43, Issue: 4, Pages: 429-452

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Abstract

As the roles of customers employees suppliers shareholders regulators and communities become more significant in today’s business environment a precise understanding of the organization’s internal drivers in delivering value to its stakeholders is critical To this end this study integrates stakeholder theory and the organizational learning literature to propose that stakeholderfocused organizational learning drives organizations to respond to their stakeholders Using a sample of 349 organizations we introduce three stakeholderfocused knowledge acquisition mechanisms experiential vicarious and contact and along with the other organizational learning processes information distribution information interpretation and organizational memory examine their influence on the behavioral actions of stakeholderfocused responsiveness innovation and imitation Subsequently we assess the impact of these behavioral actions on organizational performance Overall the results show that stakeholderfocused organizational learning is positively associated with responsiveness More uniquely the propensity to employ innovative or imitative stakeholder practices is found to be influenced by the way the organization acquires information about stakeholders Lastly the findings suggest that simply responding to stakeholders does not guarantee superior performance but the manner in which the organization responds matters just as much

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