Knowledge Journal Innovation& of ARTICLE IN PRESS

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Journal of Innovation

& Knowledge

https://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-innovation-and-knowledge

Conceptual paper

Linking knowledge management, organizational learning and memory

Helder de Jesus Ginja Antunes

^a,b,∗

, Paulo Gonc¸ alves Pinheiro

^c,d

aC-MAST/UBI–CentreforMechanicalandAerospaceScienceandTechnology,R&DCentreFundedbytheMultiannualFundingProgrammeofR&DCentersofFCT–Portuguese FoundationforScienceandTechnology,MinistryofEducationandScience,Portugal

bUniversityofBeiraInterior,DepartmentofManagementandEconomics(DGE),FacultyofSocialandHumanSciences,UniversityofBeiraInterior,EstradadoSineiro,s/n.,6200-209 Covilhã,Portugal

cNECE-UBI–ResearchCentreinBusinessSciences,R&DCentreFundedbytheMultiannualFundingProgrammeofR&DCentersofFCT–PortugueseFoundationforScienceand Technology,MinistryofEducationandScience,Portugal

dUniversityofBeiraInterior,DepartmentofManagementandEconomics(DGE),FaculdadedeCiênciasSociaiseHumanas,UniversidadedaBeiraInterior,EstradadoSineiro,s/n, 6200-209Covilhã,Portugal

a r t i c l e i n f o

Articlehistory:

Received16April2018 Accepted24April2019 Availableonlinexxx

JELclassiﬁcation:

M1 M15

Keywords:

Knowledgemanagement Organizationallearning Memory

Systematicliteraturereview

a b s t r a c t

Theobjectiveofthisresearchistounderstandthelinkandevolutionbetweentheconceptsofknowledge management,organizationallearningandmemory.Seekingabetterclarificationofconcepts,discussing theminthetheoreticalfield,understandingtheirevolutioninthelastdecades.Asystematicliterature reviewwasdevelopedbysynthesizingconcepts.Fromtwodatabases,atotalof2511scientificarticles between1960and2017wereanalyzed,dividedintotwostudies.Organizationallearningisseenasa dynamicprocessbasedonknowledgeandistranslatedthroughvariouslevelsofactivity.Theability ofanorganizationtouseandleveragetheknowledgeisheavilydependentonitsHumanResources, whichareeffectivelywhocreates,sharesandusesthatknowledge.Knowledgemanagementisseen asthemanagementoftheprocessesofcreation,storage,access,anddisseminationoftheintellectual resourcesofanorganization.Organizationsmustconsideryourmainobjectiveasincreasingthecapacity ofindividualsandorganizationalknowledgeenhancers.Managersshouldpayspecialattentiontothe moregeneralknowledgeassociatedwiththecontextofthefirm,asitsupportstheintroductionofvarious typesofinnovation.KnowledgecanbeencouragedbyasetofcollaborativepracticesofHRM.Wecan considerorganizationallearningasaprocessandorganizationalmemoryasthecorrespondingoutput.

Thus,establishingtherelationshipthattheorganizationalmemoryisaconsequenceoforganizational learning.

Keyconceptsthatcanbeusedinthenewfutureresearcharesummarized,highlightingitsapplication anddiagnosisfororganizations,fomentingthestrategicdecision-making.

Introduction

Sincethe1990s,theeconomyismarkedbytheopeningofnew marketsandadvancesintechnologies.Therearemajorchallenges intheﬁeld oforganizationalscienceswhereyesterday’sorgani- zationalknowledgeandstrategiescannotguarantee tomorrow’s success (Senge, 1990). Organizational challenges in companies requirelearning and creativity to increase resources,skills and learninginbusinessorganizationstosustainthecompany’scom- petitiveadvantages(Barney,1991;DeGeus,1988;Garvin,1993;

Mahoney,2001;Peteraf,1993;Wernerfelt,1984).

∗ Correspondingauthor.

E-mailaddress:[email protected](H.d.J.G.Antunes).

Inthisresearch,thelearningoforganizationsishighlighted,due toitsroletoimproveresultsandperformance(Fernandes,2007).

Organizationallearninghaditsdevelopmentintheﬁeldofbusi- ness sciences, research,and thebecomean important research topicfromthe1990s.Theorganizationthatcontinuallyexpands itscapabilitiescreatesitsownfuture(Senge,1990).

Itisnecessarytoanalyzeanddiagnosethecurrentstateofan organization,asabasisthatshouldguideitschange(Marsick&

Watkins,2003).Learningmustbeguidedandintegratedintothe systems,practices,andstructuresoftheorganization,tobeshared, causingchangesinperformance.So,oneshouldnotconsideronly theindividuallearningtosupportorganizationallearningsystem (Marsick&Watkins,2003).

Althoughthedeﬁnitionsoforganizationallearning varycon- siderably, there is a consensus that theorganizational learning

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jik.2019.04.002

creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

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representsaspecialmodeloforganizationalculturepromotedby theattentiongiventothechangeandthewayinwhichitoccurs (Cox, Irby,&Bowen,2006), theﬂexibilityand opennesstonew waysofwork,dependingonthegoalsoftheOrganizationandofits performancetargets(Marsick&Watkins,2003).

Thetwo growingtheoreticallines of organizational learning andlearning organizationemergebyconsideringtheindividual knowledgeperspectivefororganizationalknowledgei.e.theshift fromthelevelsofactionofindividualknowledgetoorganizational knowledge (Fiol & Lyles, 1985; Shrivastava, 1983). The learner organization appears,the continuous increase of the skills and knowledge of individuals, promoting collective learning condi- tioningorganizational learning(Senge,1990), andalsobuilding organizationalmemoryasHuberassuggestedin1991.

Themaintheoretical linesof organizationallearning arethe behaviouralapproachin companies(Cyert&March,1963);the- oriesofaction(Argyris&Schon,1978,1996;Argyris,1977)andthe theoryofcognitiveandbehaviouralchanges(Fiol&Lyles,1985).

Senge(1990)proposesandidentifiesthedifficultiesthatorgani- zationsencounterinordertodevelopnewlearning,identifiesseven typesofdifficultiesidentifiedinmanagers:(i)confusionofidentity;

(ii)avoidassumingresponsibilities;(iii)notfaceproblemsimmedi- ately;(iv)analyzeeventsonacase-by-casebasis;(v)nervousness;

(vi)lackofinformationaboutdecisions;(vii)involvementinpower relations(Senge,1990).

Huber(1991)identiﬁesinhisresearchworkfourorganizational learningprocesses:(i)acquisitionofknowledge,howitisobtained;

(ii)distributionofinformation;(iii)informationinterpretation,and (iv)organizationalmemory,astheprocessofinformationsharing, isthetransitionfromtheindividualtothecollectivelevel,building organizationalmemory(Huber,1991).However,wemustempha- sizethat organizational learning and its difﬁculties,knowledge managementinthecompanyandorganizationalmemoryhavea relativelyrecentdevelopmentintheirareaofstudy.Itisnecessary tocontinue researching,deepeningconceptsand disseminating information,questioningtheformsoflearning,theirsharingofcon- tent,theformofthisstorageinorganizationsandthecontribution tothesuccessfulbusiness.

Theobjective of this researchis to understandthelink and evolutionbetweentheconceptsofknowledgemanagement,organizationallearningandmemory.Seekingabetterclariﬁcationof concepts,discussingtheminthetheoreticalﬁeld,understanding theirevolutionanditslinkageinthelastdecades.

Infirstsection,weintroduceandlisttheideasthatdefinethe problemofstudyandtheconceptualframework.Insectiontwo a literature review considering theconcepts, its evolution and interactionwithorganizationaltopics.synthesiswiththemethod- ologicaloptions,asystematicreviewoftheliterature.Insection threeispresentedthemethodology.Insectionfourtheresultsare discussed.Finally,sectionfiveispresentedthefinalconsiderations, limitationstothestudyandfutureresearchlines.

Literature

Managementandknowledgeprocessesinorganizations

Inthisstudy,wefollowthedeﬁnitionknowledgemanagement asthemanagementof theprocessesofcreation,storage,access anddisseminationoftheintellectualresourcesofanorganization (Song,Nerur,&Teng,2007).Knowledgemanagementinorganiza- tions,accordingtoGarcia-PerezandMitra(2008)isdeﬁnedasaset offourtypesofprocesses:(1)acquisitionofknowledge.Involves theprocessesofcreationandknowledge-building;(2)conversion ofknowledge.Thestorageofusefulinformationinrepositoriesthat

facilitateaccessofindividualstotheattention;(3)applicationof knowledge.Thisisthewayisexploredandappliedknowledge;(4) Protectionofknowledge(Garcia-PerezandAyres,2009,2015).

Huber(1991)alsodescribesfourconstructionsofknowledge management:knowledgeacquisition;thedistributionofinforma- tion;theinterpretationofinformationandorganizationalmemory.

In organizations that bet onthe implementationof knowledge managementsystemsandpracticestomonetizeandimproveexist- ingknowledge in theorganization. Thepredominant trend has beenthefocusonsupportinginformation sharingtechnologies, assumingtheimportanceofstudyingsocialnetworks,knowledge ﬂowsandidentifyingstrategiestoimprovethem(Cross,Borgatti,

& Parker, 2002; Storberg-Walker & Gubbins, 2007). Schwier, Campbell,andKenny(2004)arguethattheuseofthetermknowl- edgemanagement sometimesisnot adequate,showthat many knowledge management projects are information management projects.Thisisbecausetheyareonlyfocusedoncoding,storage, anddistributionofinformation(Schwieretal.,2004).Theability ofanorganizationtouseandleveragetheknowledgeisheavily dependentonitsHumanResources,whichareeffectivelywhocre- ate,shareanduseknowledge(Ipe,2003).Theuseofknowledgeis onlypossiblewhenindividualscansharetheirknowledgeandcan generatenew,fromtheknowledgeofothers(Devezas,Linstone,&

Santos,2007).Itisalsorecognizedtheimportanceofsharingfor theinterconnectionbetweentheknowledgeattheindividuallevel andorganizationallevel,knowledgeandlearningbothlevels(Ipe, 2003).

Ontheotherhand,sincemuchoftheorganizationalknowledge liesintheindividuallevel,thatacquiresandcomplementsitsdaily activitiesandfunctions.Ifnotpromotedacultureofknowledge sharing,therisk,iftheindividualleavestheOrganization,tolose thisspeciﬁcknowledge ortheriskofthis knowledgenotbeing properlytakenadvantageofsinceitisnolongeraccessibletoothers (Ipe,2003).Knowledgeistheresultoflearning,canmanifestitself inchangesinbehaviourorlackofcognitions(Argote,2013).Knowl- edgecanbecharacterizedalongvariousdimensions(Windhager etal.,2013),fromexplicitknowledgetotacitknowledge(Kogut&

Zander,1992;Nonaka&VonKrogh,2009;Nonaka,1994;Polanyi, 1962).

Knowledgecreation theorydescribesknowledge asmeaning whereindividualsforpersonalsensitivityandexperience,theabil- itytodeﬁnea situationand actaccordingly. Theorganizational knowledgecreationtheoryproposesthatthenewknowledgeis createdthroughprocessesoftacitandexplicitconversion:social- ization,externalization,combination,andinternalization(Erden, Von Krogh, &Nonaka, 2008; Nonaka, Toyama, &Konno, 2000;

Nonaka,1994).AndrewsandDelahaye(2000)intheirstudyofpsy- chosocialprocesses ofﬁltercreation ofknowledgesuggest that individualsintuitivelyadoptﬁlteringstrategies.Inhisstudy,the researchersdescribe situations whereindividuals didnot share theirown knowledge lightly.The perceivedreliability wasdis- tinctly perception-based than thecolleagues werelikely to do, withcommerciallysensitiveinformation.Thepsychosocialfactor emergesclearlyasthatwhichdetermineswhowerewillingtoshare theirownknowledge in theproductionof itsresearchservices (Andrews&Delahaye,2000).

Additionally, Nielsen and Nielsen (2009) examined results related to international strategic alliances (ISAs) knowledge, demonstrate that learning and innovation can occur simul- taneously but result from different combinations of partner characteristics,knowledgecharacteristics,andrelationalquality.

Whiletacitknowledgecaninhibitknowledgetransferandlearn- ing,itcanalsoincreaseﬁrms’abilitytoinnovate(Nielsen&Nielsen, 2009)

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Theconceptofmemoryandorganizationalimprovisation

Theconceptoforganizationalmemoryappearsfragmentedby severalauthorslikeWalshandUngson(1991),Anand,Manz,and Glick(1998),MoormanandMiner(1998)orBarnierandSutton (2008),withgreatpotentialfordevelopmentintheﬁeldofstudy.

Thestructureoftheorganizationalmemoryappearslinkedtoinfor- mationprocesses, acquisition,retention and recovery(Walsh &

Ungson,1991).Organizationalmemoryis deﬁnedashow orga- nizationsstoreknowledgefor futureuse(Cyert&March,1963;

Huber,1991;Levitt&March,1988;Stein&Zwass,1995).Individ- ualcognitiveactivitiestranslatedbytheacquisitionofknowledge withinanorganization,contributetotheconstructionoforganiza- tionalmemory(Walsh&Ungson,1991).Theprocessesofsharing organizationalinterpretationsystemsoutperformtheindividual level.Thisisoneofthereasonswhyanorganizationpreserving theknowledgeofthepastevenwhenkeystaffleavetheOrganiza- tion(Weick&Gilﬁllan,1971).Replacethelostknowledgegainedby experience,raisesnewchallenges(Dunham&Burt,2011;Strack, Baier,&Fahlander,2008).Theconceptoforganizationalmemory, clarifythelocusoforganizational memory, theretentionstruc- ture;theprocessesofacquisition,storageandretrievalonretention structure;andthememoryusageasaconsequenceonperformance andresults(Walsh&Ungson,1991).

ThetransactionalmemorymodelwasdevelopedbyWegner, Giuliano,andHertel(1985),Wegner(1987),Wegner,Erber,and Raymond(1991),BarnierandSutton(2008).Integratedtheinfor- mationretainedinmemoryofagroupintotwocomponents,the informationstoredbythemembersofthegroupintheirindividual memoriesandthedirectoriesheldbymembersofthegroupthat identiﬁedtheexistence,locationandrecoverymediatheinforma- tionheldbyotherindividuals(Anandetal.,1998).

Themodelproposesthat theencoding, storageand retrieval ofinformationofthegroupareprovidedbyvariouscommunica- tioninteractionsortransactionsbetweenmembersofthegroup.

Theinformationstoredinthememoriesofindividualmembersof thegroupcanbegroupedintointernalandexternalcomponents.

Theinternalcomponentconsistsofinformationknownpersonally bythemembersofthegroup.Theexternalcomponentconsistsof information,notknownpersonallybythemembers,butthatcan beretrievedwhenneeded(Anandetal.,1998).

Organizationalimprovisationdependsnotonlyonwhathap- pensbutalsoaboutthetemporalorderinwhichthingshappen.The timeintervalbetweeneventstendstothecompositionandlimit convergeswiththeimplementation(Moorman &Miner, 1998).

Whentheimprovisationalactivityinvolvessomedegreeofinno- vation, happens when the activity goes beyond the automatic repetitionofanexistingroutine(Vera&Crossan,2004).

Thememoryissuggestedtoanalysecollectiveimprovisation (Cohen, 1991; Huber, 1991; Walsh & Ungson, 1991). Procedu- ral memory is a memory “forhow things are done” (Cohen &

Bacdayan, 1994) or memory to “things you can do” (Berliner, 2009).Thus, theproceduralmemoryinvolvesskillsor routines, oftenrepresentstacitknowledgeforindividualsandorganizations (Cohen &Bacdayan,1994; Cohen,1991; Nonaka,1990; Winter, 1987).

Declarative memory in improvisation is “memory for facts, eventsorpropositions”(Anderson,1983;Cohen,1991).So,unlike proceduralmemoryinvolvesthememoryofroutineorskill,the declarativememorymaybemoregeneral.Consideringthesugges- tionofAnderson(1983)inthedeclarativeknowledgestemsfrom abaseoftransferbetweendifferentusesofthesameknowledge.

Theorganizationalproceduralanddeclarativememoryshows effectsonresultsofimprovisation.It issuggestedthat thepro- ceduralmemorymustenhancetheimprovisation,efﬁciencyand speed,reducingyournews.Declarativememory,however,should

increasetheeffectivenessoforganizationalcorrelationandnovelty, whilereducesyourspeed(Moorman&Miner,1998).

Knowledgeﬂowsandbusinessperformance

Consideringthetheoryofresources(RBV),thecompanyisa uniquesetoffeaturesandcapabilitiesthatcansustainyourcom- petitiveadvantage(Barney,1991;Mahoney,2001;Peteraf,1993;

Wernerfelt,1984).Whenresourcesarevaluable,rare,inimitable, andirreplaceable,cangeneratesustainedcompetitiveadvantage (Barney,1991).Thestockofthecompany’sassetsresultsofstrate- giesofchoicesmadeovertimebyitsmanagers,sospeciﬁc,strategic spendingshouldbeviewedasinvestmentsinstrategicassets(Hall, Griliches,&Hausman,1984;Telser,1961).Thefocusonresources andstrategicassetshasledtoanextensionofRBV,towardsthe knowledge-basedopinionoftheﬁrm(KBV).Thus,knowledgeis thestrategicallymostimportantintangibleresourceofthecom- pany(Spender&Grant,1996).Howthecompanycreates,transfers andusesknowledge,manufacturesimpactsonyourperformance andyourabilitytocompetewithinasector(Grant,1996;Nonaka, Byosiere,Borucki,&Konno,1994;Nonaka,1994;Spender&Grant, 1996).

Themodelofstocksandflowsoforganizationalknowledgeis animportantcontributiontoKBV(DeCarolis&Deeds,1999).The modelhassignificantvalueinthemanagementofacompany,as itoffersconcreteideasaboutaprofileofstrategicinvestmentsin knowledge,tosucceed in each sector.Themodel ofstocksand flowsofknowledgeprovidesacompetitiveadvantagedependson thecontinuousaccumulationofstocksofknowledge(DeCarolis&

Deeds,1999).Erden,Klang,Sydler,andvonKrogh(2014)develop a studythat testsa newmodel in biopharmaceuticcompanies, showinghowtheflowofknowledgehasanimpactonthecom- pany’sperformanceandresults.Theresultsofthestudyshowthat managerstoavoidperformancelossesmustmakeaprudentinvest- mentinR&D,strategicalliancesthatimprovethequalityofservices andmaygranttothecompanyabetterfinancialperformance.To tryastrategyofpursuingvariousalliances,thismayprovetobe moreeffective,togetbetteranddifferenttypesofknowledgeflows (Erdenetal.,2014).

Theﬂowofknowledgeandinformationstoredarecentralissues formanyauthorsrangingfromtheresource-basedview(Barney, 2001)forfeatures andcapabilities(Eisenhardt &Martin,2000a;

Grant,1996),learningorganization(Huber,1991;March,Sproull,

&Tamuz, 1991),or socio-cognitiveapproaches (Akgün, Lynn,&

Byrne,2003).Theselinesofactionrecognizetheflowsofinfor- mationandmemoryasrelatedconceptsembeddedinabroader approachtoorganizationallearning.Knowledgestocksandflows ofinformation arethetwoentriestotheprocesses (acquisition ofinformation,dissemination,interpretation,useandstorage)of organizationallearning(Kyriakopoulos&deRuyter,2004).Orga- nizationalmemoryconsideredasastrategy,gainfocusonprocesses (Hargadon&Sutton,1997).The“fiveinternalBins”,thatcontribute totheeaseoforganizationalmemoryretention,varyingonyour abilitytoretaininformationdecision(Walsh&Ungson,1991),or theshapesassociatedwithmemoryretention(Moorman&Miner, 1998)Inadditiontothestoredknowledge,gatherandusetheinfor- mationfortheinnovationinprocessisalsoimportant,accordingto theinformationofproductinnovationandresearchontheadoption ofinnovations(Rogers,1985).Informationfrominternalsources mirrorsexistingassumptionsand,thus,thescopeofinformation will probably belimited to theset of partners or competitors, orsupplychainoforganization(Huber,1991;Day,1994).Access toexternalsources, instead,can providenewcontextsof infor- mationchallengingtheassumptionsestablished(Kyriakopoulos&

deRuyter,2004).Internalinformationﬂowsoccurwhenateam projectisbasedonthecompany’s internalsourcesinformation,

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includinginternalexperts,orR&Dorthesalesforce(Huber,1991).

Thetransmissionofinformationtotheteamhasbeennotedasa factorinthepositiveimpactoncompanyperformance(Jaworski&

Kohli,1993;Katz&Tushman,1981;Moorman,1995).Theinvesti- gationshowedthatthepartiesexternalinformationhasapositive impactonﬁnancialperformance or innovationin thecompany (Jaworski&Kohli,1993;Katz&Tushman,1981;Moorman,1995).

KyriakopoulosanddeRuyter(2004)establishedinyourwork acurvilinearrelationshipbetweenproceduralmemoryandnew resultsontheproduct,aswellasapositiverelationshipbetween declarative memory and ﬁnancial performance. This approach allowsyoutoisolatetheeffectoftwodifferenttypesofmemory.

Theroleofmemorysuchasrecording,file,recentproductreview objectivesandmanagementmeasuressupportdeclarativememory arenotlinkedtopreviousdefinitionsoftheconceptofdeclarative memory(Kyriakopoulos&deRuyter,2004).Internalinformation flowstoenhancefinancialsuccess,howeveralsorestrictthecre- ativityinthepresenceofstrongproceduralmemory.Inaddition, whileexternalinformationflowspromotebothfinancialsuccess andcreativity,alsodiminishthecreativityinthepresenceofstrong proceduralmemory(Kyriakopoulos&deRuyter,2004).Theauthors underscore the importance of designing memory systems that allowlessuseofstandardproceduralmemory,aswellastherapid deploymentofdeclarativememory.Companiescanuseprocedural memorytoaccesspriorknowledgeGeneralandquicklyuseitin newapplications(Kyriakopoulos&deRuyter,2004).

HumanResourceManagement(HRM)playsakeyroleinhelp- ingtoachieveorganizationaldesiredresultsthroughyourpossible weightonthebehaviourand employeeskills(Bowen&Ostroff, 2004).Sotheperspective ofknowledge and HRMappear tobe highlycomplementaryapproaches,and integratethemmustbe apriorityontheagendaofanyinvestigation(Minbaeva,Foss,&

Snell,2009).Thus,organizationsobtainefﬁcientvaluebymanaging theirknowledge,atthesametime,astheygeneratenewknowl- edgeorcreativecombinationsofexistingknowledge,leadingto newproductsorservices(Ebbers&Wijnberg,2009).

Organizationallearningasadynamiccapabilities,collaborative practicesorHumanResourceManagement(HRM)

Theindividualperspectivebasedontheinvestigationofindivid- uallearningisdevelopedby(Shrivastava,1983).Severalmodels have emerged pointing the individual learning processes and transferredlatertotheorganizationallearning.Fernandes(2007) considerstwoperspectivescanbeidentiﬁedinindividuallearning approach:behaviouriststheoriesandcognitivetheories.

ArgyrisandSchon(1978)concludethatthereisnoorganiza- tionallearningwithoutindividuallearning,whereasorganizations onlylearnthankstotheexperiences andactionsof individuals.

However,itmaybethatindividualslearnandnotanorganization.

Simon(1991)alsoemphasizedtheindividualroleintheprocesses ofknowledge,pointsoutthatalltheorganizationallearningthis on“headoftheindividual”(Ipe,2003;Simon,1991).InTable1we developtwolinesofthelearningorganizationandorganizational learning.

Organizationallearningit’sseenasadynamicprocess,basedon knowledge.It’stranslatedthroughthevariouslevelsofaction,from theindividualleveltothegroupandorganizationallevel,retak- ingtheinitialprocess(Crossan,Lane,&White,1999;Jerez-Gomez, 2005;Simon,1991).Consideringthedynamiccapabilities,theorga- nizationallearningconceptcanbetreatedashowtoincorporate dynamiccapabilitiesintheinternalprocessesofthecompany.In historicalperspective,organizationallearningiswellrecognizedas anessentialelementforsustainedcompetitiveness.Theimpactof dynamiccapabilitiesinthecompany’sperformanceis mediated

by internalprocesses within theorganization or more tangible resourcesthat can bereconﬁgured by thedynamic capabilities (Giniuniene&Jurksiene,2015).

Eisenhardt and Martin (2000b) suggest that dynamic capa- bilitiesbecomemoreevident throughthelearning processthat generatesnewknowledge.Consideringtheinternalenvironment ofthecompany,organizationallearningisoneofthemaininter- nalprocesseswithintheorganization,contributestomediatethe relationshipbetweendynamiccapabilitiesandperformanceofthe company(Eisenhardt&Martin,2000b).Theresourceandtheabil- itytochangedeﬁnesthedynamiccapabilitiesandcanmanifest themselvesthroughprocessesoforganizationallearning(Breznik

&Hisrich,2014).Inthisway,thedynamiccapabilitiesthroughthe mediationoforganizationallearningprocessesbecomethemain sourceofcompetitiveadvantage(Shane&Venkataraman,2000).

The positive impact of organizational learning and dynamic capabilities, in the performance of the company, is also medi- atedby innovation(Giniuniene &Jurksiene,2015).Breznikand Hisrich(2014) arguethat innovation isa result of thelearning process.Otherauthorsalsosuggestthatorganizationalknowledge, andorganizationallearning,allowthestrengtheningofinnovation throughtheacquisition,sharing,developmentandtransformation ofknowledge(Huber,1991;Jiménez-Jiménez&Sanz-Valle,2011).

Collaborative practices of HRM refer to a set of practices intendedtoencouragetheexchangeofknowledgebetweenthe variousmembersofanorganization.Theyincludetheselectionof candidateswithskillsofteamwork,enablingthesharingofknowl- edge tosolveproblemsor create newideasand organizational incentives to achieve group results. Organizational knowledge referstotheamountofexperienceandinformationaccumulated duringthelifeofacompanythatcanbebroughtoncurrentactivi- ties(Moorman&Miner,1997).

Knowledgeandinformationareusuallyfoundindifferentindi- viduals.Thismeansthatorganizationsmustconsideryourmain objectiveasincreasingthecapacityofindividualsandorganiza- tionalknowledgeenhancers,whichwillinvolvethedevelopment ofstrictstrategicmanagementofpeople(Theriou&Chatzoglou, 2009).Encourageinternalcollaborationbetweenthemembersof anorganizationcanbeapowerfulresourceforthegenerationof organizationalknowledge,asinteractionallowstheknowledgeof severalindividualstobecombined,whichisessentialforthecon- versionofknowledgeindividualincollectiveknowledge.

Nieves,Quintana,andOsorio(2016)inyourstudyanalysethe resultsofinnovationinserviceorganizations,combiningtwothe- oreticalapproaches:HRMandperspectiveofknowledge.Although HRMandknowledgeofresourceshavebeenstudiedinknowledge- intensiveserviceorganizations,fewstudieshaveaddressedthese constructsinotherorganizationsintheservicesector.Theobjec- tiveof thisstudywastohelpsolvethisempiricalgapandthus contributetotheknowledgeabout driversof innovationinthe field of services. The results show the important role of the collaborativepracticesofHRMinnovationactivityofhotel companies.These practices ofproduct innovationinfluencedirectly andindirectly,butdonothaveadirectinfluenceontheinnovation process.

Managers should payspecial attention tothe more general knowledgeassociatedwiththecontextoftheﬁrm,asitsupportsthe introductionofvarioustypesofinnovation.Bothtypesofknowl- edgecanbeencouragedbyasetofcollaborativepracticesofHRM (Nievesetal.,2016).

Therelationship betweenlearning and organizational mem- orypointedoutthatorganizationalmemoryisaconsequenceof organizationallearning.Therefore,wecanconsiderorganizational learningastheprocessandorganizationalmemoryasthecorre- spondingoutput(Huang, 2013;Huang, Chuang,&Cheri, 2016).

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Table1

Organizationallearningversuslearningorganizationorlearner.

Mainlinesandtheoriesoforganizationallearning Authors Mainlinesandtheoriesoflearningorganization Authors Theprocessoforganizationallearningenables

organizationstochangedecision-making rules,introducingamodelthatisresponsible forchangesinorganizationscausingchanges indevelopmentalstages.

(Cyert&March, 1963)

Proposesakindoforganizationhecalledlearnerorganization, characterizedbyhavingmoresuccessthanother

organizations,learningfaster,showingacapacitytoadaptby creatingfuturealternatives.Theﬁvedisciplinesforbuilding learningorganizations:(i)systemicthinking,showingthe globalandcollectivethinking,pointingouttheperceptionsof theOrganization;(ii)personaldomain,valuingthereal personalaspirations,withmoreopentoothers,takinginto accountthecommitmentandthegrowthoftheOrganization;

(iii)mentalmodelsbyencouragingpeopletoputasidetheold waysofthinking;(iv)thesharedvision,promotingplansin whichallparticipateandagree,and(v)grouplearning, involvingworkteams,allowsgroupstocreateamindsetthat followstheprinciplesofeachMember

(Senge,1990;Kofman

&Senge,1993)

Theprocessoforganizationallearning,the simpleleveloforganizationallearning, enablingtheOrganizationtodetectthe errorsandﬁxthem,wherebodieshavethe capacitytomaintainstabilityinchanging contexts.Themostcomplexlevel, double-looplearningisproposed,which allowsthedetectionoferrorsandstrategies, andalsorelatetheseerrorswiththenorms thatputintoquestionthefunctioningofthe organization.Knownasthetheoriesof action.

(Argyris,1977;

Argyris&Schon, 1978;Argyris&

Schon,1996)

Theperspectiveofsystemicthinking,proposethree characteristicssothatthelearningorganizationsmaintaina highyield:thecommitmenttoknowledge;themechanismof renewalandopennessinrelationtotheexternalenvironment

(Mills&Friesen,1992)

Foursituationsthatreﬂecttheorganizational learning:(i)afewcognitiveandbehavioral changes;(ii)afewchangestothecognitive levelandmajorchangestothebehavioral level;(iii)majorchangesandfewcognitive behavioralchangesand(iv)majorchangesto thecognitivelevelandmajorchangestothe behaviorallevel,wherecompaniescanlearn morequickly.

(Fiol&Lyles,1985) Thestrategicperspectivethatconsidersthatlearning organizationshavemoreideasthanotherorganizations.The learneristheorganizationabletogenerate,acquireand transferknowledgebychangingyourbehaviour

(Garvin,1993)

Proposesandidentifiesthedifficultiesthat organizationsaretodevelopnewlearning, identifiesseventypesofdifficulties identifiedinthemanagers:(i)mistaken identity;(ii)avoidassumingresponsibilities;

(iii)donotfaceimmediateproblems;(iv) analyzeeventson;(v)nervousness;(vi)lack ofinformationaboutdecisions;(vii) involvementinpowerrelations

(Senge,1990;

Senge,

Cambron-McCabe, Lucas,Smith,&

Dutton,2012)

Inductivetypologyoflearningorganizationbasedonfour possibleunderstandingsandcharacterizationsoflearner organization:theorganizationallearningandlearningatwork, emphasizingtheprocessesinorganizations;thelearning climateandstructureasformsoforganization

(Örtenblad,2002)

Organizationallearningprocesses:(i) acquisitionofknowledge,thewayitis obtained;(ii)distributionofinformation;

(iii)interpretationoftheinformationand (iv)theorganizationalmemory,asthe informationsharingprocess,isthetransition fromtheindividualleveltothecollectiveby buildingorganizationalmemory

(Huber,1991) TheDimensionsoftheLearningOrganizationQuestionnaire (DLOQ),asaninstrumentofmeasurementwherechangemust occuratalllevels,individual,group,organizationaland engaging,improvingperformance.severalstudiesthat measurethedimensionsoflearnerorganizationorganizations, demonstratedacorrelationbetweenthedimensionsandthe knowledgeandﬁnancialperformance,basedonalackof individuals.Somestudieshavedemonstratedandvalidated theDLOQ,wherethedimensionsoforganizationalculture explainthevarianceoftheresultsintheknowledgeand ﬁnancialperformancevariables

(Watkins&Marsick, 1993;Hernandez, 2003;Marsick&

Watkins,2003;Yang, 2003;Yang,Watkins,&

Marsick,2004;Song, Joo,&Chermack,2009;

Menezes,Guimarães,&

Bido,2011;Mbassana, 2014)

Ownsource.

Organizationalmemoryprocessesincludetheacquisition,preservation,maintenanceandrecovery(Stein&Zwass,1995).

Methodology

Thisstudyfollowedamethodologyofasystematicreviewof theliterature(Wright,Brand,Dunn,&Spindler,2007).Twostudies wereelaboratedwithdifferentresearchequationswiththetermsof OrganizationalLearning,KnowledgeandOrganizationalMemory.

Intheﬁrststudy(S1)weusedasearchequationwiththeterms

“OrganizationalLearning”and“knowledge”asresearchtopicsin WebofKnowledge,wefound1582resultsappliedtothesearch ﬁlters,byresearchareas,sotheareawaschosenbusinesseconomy with1335referencesofscientiﬁcarticles.

In the second study (S2), we used a search equation with the terms “Organizational Memory” as a search topic (Jenkin, Madhvani, Signal, &Bowers, 2014).We found1716 resultsfor searchﬁltersbysearcharea,sowechosetheareaofsocialsciences with1176referencesofscientiﬁcarticlesinWebofKnowledge.

Withstudy1andstudy2,analyzeswereperformedusingthesoft- wareNvivoandVOSviewer,basedontherepetitionandsimilarity oftermsandwords.

Duringouranalysis,theitemswerecopied/senttotheEndNote X8software,articlesfromstudy1andstudy2.Duplicates were eliminated,andthetitlesandabstractsofthescientiﬁcpaperswere analyzed,consideringtheresearchobjectivesandquality(Q1,Q2 andQ3),resultinginatotalof289articlesandreferences(Jenkin etal.,2014).Atthisstage,theScopusdatabasewasalsoincluded.

57 articleswere chosen, which were analyzed considering the

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Fig.1. Totalofcitationspertheyearof1335articlesanalyzed(1991–2017).

Source:WebofScience.

conceptsoftheﬁeldofstudyandaconceptualsynthesisbetween theoreticalandempiricalarticles(Wrightetal.,2007).

Aftersynthesizingthemesandanalyzingtextsofscientiﬁcarti- cles,atotalof95referencesexamined,treatedandreferencedin thisstudy(Jenkinetal.,2014)resultedinthepresentstudy.The includedarticles,whichwereaddedinviewofthequalitycriteria toreinforcetheconcepts,constructednewequationswiththemain theme“OrganizationalLearning”,“knowledge”and“organizational memory”.

Datacollection

Inthefirststudy(S1)wefound1582resultsappliedtothesearch filters,byresearchareas,sowaschosentheareaofbusinesseco- nomicswith1335referencesofscientificarticles.Fig.1showsthe totalnumberofcitationsperyearintheperiodof1991–2017.

Withthehelpof theVOSviewersoftware,an analysisbased onthetitlesandabstractsofauthors.Basedonthetotalcountof words,withtheoccurrenceofrepetitionexceeds10,VOSviewer wereselectedinatotalof26termswithaviewtosplittingwords inassociationforclusters.So,5clustershavebeendetectedwith itemsidentiﬁedinTable2.

Thenetworkingoftheclustersandthevisualizationofdensity peritemwereanalyzed,canbeseeninFig.2.

Through,NVivosoftwarewasalsomadeananalysisbasedon exactmatchof100wordsmorerepeatedwords,Fig.3.

Table2

DivisionoftermsforclustersbyAssociation.VOSviewerSource.

Cluster1 Cluster2 Cluster3 Cluster4 Cluster5

Firm Process Article Case Learning

Innovation Paper Concept Effect Model

Knowledge Project Framework Experience Management Relationship Knowledge

Management

Learning Organization Strategy Research Organizational

Learning

Organization

Study Role Practice

Theory

Basedonthefrequencyof25mostrepeatedwords,acluster analysiswaselaborated,illustratedinFig.4.Basedonthisdivision byclusters,thekeywordsofthisarticlewerechosenandarticulated thefollowingthematicareasofliteraturereviewwerecompared thetwoclustersoptionsintwodifferentprogramsandanalyzed thepiecharthavingbycriterionthecoefﬁcientofPearsonshown inFig.4.

In thesecond study(S2) withtheconcept of organizational memory,wefound1716resultsappliedtothesearchﬁlters,by researchareas,sowaschosentheareaofSocialScienceswith1176 referencesofscientiﬁcarticles.Weanalyzethetotalpublications andnumberofcitationsperyearintheperiodof1991–2017.

WiththehelpoftheVOSviewersoftware,ananalysisbasedon thetitlesandabstractsofauthors1176articlesfromtheﬁeldof study.Basedonthetotalcountofwords,withtheoccurrenceof repetitionexceeds10,VOSviewerwereselectedinatotal of22 termswithaviewtosplittingwordsinassociationforclusters.So, 3clustershavebeendetected5.Thenetworkingoftheclustersand thevisualizationofdensityperitemisillustratedinFig.5.

Through,NVivosoftwarewasalsomadeananalysisbasedon exactmatchof100wordsmorerepeatedwords.

Results

Inthecontinuationofouranalysis,wecomparedandcontrasted ourresultsinstudy1(S1)andstudy2(S2)consideringtheobjective oftheresearch.

Researchonorganizationallearninghasbeenunderdevelop- mentsincethe1960swhilethisstudyconveystheexpansionin thisﬁeldofstudyespeciallysince2009.

Fig.2. Visualizationofthedensityofeachitem.

Source:VOSviewer.

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Fig.3. 100exactlymostrepeatedwords.

Source:NVIVO.

Firms Processes Systems Innovation Product Role Transfer

Learning Organizational Knowledge Management Organizations Study Information Based Research Organization Firms New Process Technology Development

Performance Strategic Model

Role Transf

er Learning

Organizational Kno

wledge

Management Organizations

Study Information Based Research

Organization Fir Ne ms Process w

Technology De

velopment Model Perf

ormance Strategic

Firm Processes Systems Inno

vation Product

Fig.4. Clusteranalysis,thefrequencyof25mostrepeatedwords,thePearsoncor- relationcoefﬁcient.

Source:NVIVO.

Intheperiodanalyzedbetween1991and2016,thetotalnumber ofcitationsof1335publicationsalsoincreasedsteadilytoreach anoveralltotalof40,248articlescitations(39,250excludingthe citationsthemselves).

Fortheperiodunderreview,thethreecountrieswithmorepub- licationstheUSAwith36%ofthegroupofscientiﬁcarticles,England with9.8%followedbySpainwithaboutof7.8%.Thejournalswith morepublicationswere:ManagementLearning4.8%;Organization Sciencewith3.6%;IndustrialMarketingManagementwith2.4%and StrategicManagementJournalwith2.3%.

Knowledgemanagementspanstheprocessesofcreation,storage,accessanddisseminationoftheintellectualresourcesofan organization.Whenresourcesarevaluable,rare,inimitable,and irreplaceable, they are able to generate sustained competitive advantage.

Thereisnoindividualorganizational learningwhereas organizations only learn thanks to the experiences and actions of individuals.Theabilityofanorganizationtouseandleverageits knowledgeisheavilydependentonitsHumanResources,which areeffectivelythosewhocreate,shareandusethatknowledge.

Thestockofknowledgestemsfromtheresults,asassetsofthe company,andfromthestrategicchoices madeover timebyits managers.Thefocusonresourcesandstrategicassetshasledtoan extensionofthetheoryoforganizationalresources(RBV),towards knowledge-basedopinionsofﬁrms(KBV).Thus,knowledgeisthe moststrategicallyimportantintangibleresourceofanycompany.

Knowledgeissustainedbysharingandsupportingtechnologies.

Theprocessesandconstructions,theinterconnectionsbetweenthe acquisitionsof knowledge alignwithits distributionand inter- pretationwhileretentiontakesplacethroughtheorganizational memory.Networksandknowledgeﬂowssurroundknowledgeand learningaswellasorganizationallearningasadynamiccapability.

Knowledgeandlearning,framedbytheirmanagementandsharing, determinethecreationofnewknowledge.Technologiestoenable betteraccesstoinformationandprovidebetteridentiﬁcationof organizationalorganizations,thusfacilitatingthestudyofsocial networksandknowledgeﬂows.

Themostrepeatedandusedtermsandwordsintheﬁrststudy wereaggregatedintoﬁveclustersofassociation,withtheterms

“organizationallearning”and “knowledge”displayingthegreat- est densityor the highest exact repetition ofwords. Following the terms “organization”, “knowledge management”, “process”,

Knowledge

Process

Memory

Effect Experiment

Study Paper

Organizational learning

Organization Organizational memory

Research Role

Theory

Article

Evidence Knowledge management

VOSviewer

Fig.5.Visualizationofthedensityofeachitem.

Source:VOSviewer.

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“study”and“learningorganization”mayalsoserveaskeywords andasequationsforfutureresearchinthisﬁeldofstudy.

Ourresultssuggestthatthetwogrowingtheoreticallinescon- tinues toexist in thepresent state-of-the-art, we suggest as a synthesisforfuturestudiesworksonthemaintrendsandevolution, theworksandauthorspresentedinTable1.

Thestructureoftheorganizationalmemoryappearslinkedto information processes, acquisition, retention and recovery. The informationstoredinthememoriesofindividualmembersofthe groupcanbegroupedintointernalandexternalcomponents.

Knowledgeandinformationareusuallyfoundindifferentindi- viduals.Thismeansthatorganizationsmustconsideryourmain objectiveasincreasingthecapacityofindividuals andorganiza- tionalknowledgeenhancers,whichwillinvolvethedevelopment ofstrictstrategicmanagementofpeople.

Weemphasizetheimportantroleofthecollaborativepractices ofHRMinnovationactivity.Managersshouldpayspecialattention tothemoregeneralknowledgeassociatedwiththecontextofthe ﬁrm,asitsupportstheintroductionofvarioustypesofinnovation.

Bothtypesofknowledgecanbeencouragedbyasetofcollaborative practicesofHRM.

Conclusions

Themainaimof thisresearchis tounderstandthelink and evolutionbetweentheconceptsofknowledgemanagement,organizationallearningandmemory.Seekingabetterclariﬁcationof concepts,discussingtheminthetheoreticalﬁeld,understanding theirevolutioninthelastdecades.

Thisworkwasdividedintotwomajoranalyzesexploringthree conceptsthatareinterconnectedintheresearch.Thisworkalso followsotherempiricalstudieswheretheauthorsneededtoana- lyzethethreemainconcepts(OrganizationalLearning,Knowledge andMemory)theirevolutionandinterconnectioninthecontext ofbusiness organizations. Toachieve this, we dida systematic reviewoftheliterature.Twodatabaseswerechosen.Weanalyzed atotal(S1+S2)of2511scientiﬁcarticlesbetween1960and2017, betweentheoreticalandempiricalarticles.

Theresearchonorganizationallearninghasdevelopedsincethe 1960s,asevidencedinthisworkinrecentyears,peakingmainly from2009.Itisnecessarytoanalyzeanddiagnosethecurrentstate ofanorganizationandguidethechange,exploringtheorganiza- tionallearningandthememory,knowledgeandperformanceof thecompany.

Anorganization’sabilitytouseandleverageknowledgeishighly dependentonitshumanresources,whicheffectivelycreate,share, and usethat knowledge. HumanResource Management(HRM) playsakeyroleinhelpingachievethedesiredorganizationalresults throughits possiblebearing onemployeebehaviour andskills;

organizationsgain efﬁcientvaluebymanagingknowledge,gen- eratingnewknowledgeorcreativecombinations.Fromexisting knowledgeleadingtonewproductsorservices.

Thereisnoindividualorganizationallearning,however,organizations only learn thanks to the experiences and actions of individuals. The focus on resources and strategic assets led to anextensionoforganizationalresourcetheory(RBV)towardthe knowledge-basedenterprise(KBV).Thus,knowledgeisthemost strategicallyimportantintangibleresourceofthecompany.The technologiessupportthesharingofinformation,providingthebest identiﬁcationoforganizationalstrategies,facilitatingthestudyof socialnetworksandknowledgeﬂows.

Thestructureoforganizationalmemoryappearstobelinkedto processesofinformation,acquisition,retentionandretrieval.Orga- nizationalmemoryisdeﬁnedasorganizationsstoreknowledgefor futureuse.Itreplacesthelostknowledgegainedbyexperience,

createsnew challenges. The concept of organizational memory clariﬁesthelocusoforganizationalmemory,itsretentionstructure, acquisition,storageandretrievalprocesses.Theuseofmemorywill consequentlyinﬂuencetheperformanceandresultsoftheorgani- zation.

Organizationalimprovisationdependsnotonlyonwhathap- pensbutalsoonthetemporalorderinwhichthingshappen.When theimprovisationactivityinvolvessomedegreeofinnovation,it happenswhenthisactivitygoesbeyondtheautomaticrepetition ofanexistingroutine.

Organizationsshouldconsidertheirmainobjectiveasincreas- ing the capacity of individuals and organizational knowledge promoters,whichwillinvolvethedevelopmentofstrictstrategic managementofpeople.Encouraginginternalcollaborationamong membersofanorganizationcanbeapowerfulresourceforgen- eratingorganizationalknowledgebecauseinteractionallowsthe knowledgeofseveralindividualstobecombined,whichisessential fortheconversionofindividualknowledgeintocollectiveknowl- edge.

Managers should payspecial attention tothe more general knowledgeassociatedwiththecompanycontextasitsupportsthe introductionofvarioustypesofinnovation.Bothtypesofknowl- edgecanbeencouragedbyasetofcollaborativeHRMpractices.

Therelationship betweenlearning and organizational mem- oryhaspointedoutthatorganizationalmemoryisaconsequence oforganizationallearning. Therefore,wecanconsiderorganizational learning as a process and organizational memory asthe correspondingoutput.Organizationalmemoryprocessesinclude acquisition,preservation,maintenance,andretrieval.

Limitations

Thestudyhascertainlimitations.Inadditiontothelimitations inherentinthistypeofstudy,arethenumberofarticlesreviewed andconsulteddatabases,aswellastheequationsandsearchﬁlters, whichledtotheresults.

Futureresearch

Infutureresearch,wesuggestedgreaterevidenceofempirical studiesinorganizations,positioninganddifferentactivitysectors, aswellasgroupsof employees.Also,suggestsfurtherdevelop- mentofinstrumentsformeasurementoforganizationallearning, adaptedconsiderablytothehumanelementwithitsowncharac- teristics.

Wealsoconsiderimportantcasestudiesonhoworganizations usememoryasavehicleorlearning,unlearningandrelearning.

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