IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/entthe/v29y2005i4p451-472.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Role of Organizational Learning in the Opportunity–Recognition Process

Author

Listed:
  • G.T. Lumpkin
  • Benyamin Bergmann Lichtenstein

Abstract

Firms engage in entrepreneurship to increase performance through both strategic renewal and the creation of new venture opportunities. Organizational learning (OL) has become an effective avenue for strategic renewal. But what of creating venture opportunities—can OL enhance the process of recognizing and pursuing new ventures? This article argues that OL can strengthen a firm's ability to recognize opportunities and help equip them to effectively pursue new ventures. First, we identify three approaches to OL—behavioral, cognitive, and action. Then, we introduce a creativity–based model of opportunity recognition (OpR) that includes two phases—discovery and formation. Next, we show how each of the three types of learning is linked to the two phases of OpR. We suggest propositions that support our claim that OL enhances OpR and offer examples of firms that have used these organizational–learning approaches to more effectively recognize and pursue venture opportunities. These insights have important implications for entrepreneurial firms seeking to advance the venture–creation process.

Suggested Citation

  • G.T. Lumpkin & Benyamin Bergmann Lichtenstein, 2005. "The Role of Organizational Learning in the Opportunity–Recognition Process," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 29(4), pages 451-472, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:entthe:v:29:y:2005:i:4:p:451-472
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1540-6520.2005.00093.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1111/j.1540-6520.2005.00093.x
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.1540-6520.2005.00093.x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Raghu Garud & Praveen R. Nayyar, 1994. "Transformative capacity: Continual structuring by intertemporal technology transfer," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 15(5), pages 365-385, June.
    2. Bruce R. Barringer & Allen C. Bluedorn, 1999. "The relationship between corporate entrepreneurship and strategic management," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(5), pages 421-444, May.
    3. Per Davidsson & Johan Wiklund, 2001. "Levels of Analysis in Entrepreneurship Research: Current Research Practice and Suggestions for the Future," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 25(4), pages 81-100, July.
    4. Gaglio, Connie Marie & Katz, Jerome A, 2001. "The Psychological Basis of Opportunity Identification: Entrepreneurial Alertness," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 16(2), pages 95-111, March.
    5. Scott Shane, 2000. "Prior Knowledge and the Discovery of Entrepreneurial Opportunities," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 11(4), pages 448-469, August.
    6. William B. Gartner & Barbara J. Bird & Jennifer A. Starr, 1992. "Acting as If: Differentiating Entrepreneurial from Organizational Behavior," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 16(3), pages 13-32, April.
    7. James G. March, 1991. "Exploration and Exploitation in Organizational Learning," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 2(1), pages 71-87, February.
    8. Ikujiro Nonaka, 1994. "A Dynamic Theory of Organizational Knowledge Creation," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 5(1), pages 14-37, February.
    9. Daniel A. Levinthal, 1991. "Organizational Adaptation and Environmental Selection-Interrelated Processes of Change," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 2(1), pages 140-145, February.
    10. Ward, Thomas B., 2004. "Cognition, creativity, and entrepreneurship," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 19(2), pages 173-188, March.
    11. Herriott, Scott R & Levinthal, Daniel & March, James G, 1985. "Learning from Experience in Organizations," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 75(2), pages 298-302, May.
    12. George P. Huber, 1991. "Organizational Learning: The Contributing Processes and the Literatures," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 2(1), pages 88-115, February.
    13. Andrew C. Corbett, 2005. "Experiential Learning within the Process of Opportunity Identification and Exploitation," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 29(4), pages 473-491, July.
    14. Martha S. Feldman, 2000. "Organizational Routines as a Source of Continuous Change," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 11(6), pages 611-629, December.
    15. Busenitz, Lowell W. & Barney, Jay B., 1997. "Differences between entrepreneurs and managers in large organizations: Biases and heuristics in strategic decision-making," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 12(1), pages 9-30, January.
    16. John Seely Brown & Paul Duguid, 1991. "Organizational Learning and Communities-of-Practice: Toward a Unified View of Working, Learning, and Innovation," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 2(1), pages 40-57, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Lu, Jinfeng & Dimov, Dimo, 2023. "A system dynamics modelling of entrepreneurship and growth within firms," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 38(3).
    2. Xiu-e Zhang & Qing Li, 2021. "Does Green Proactiveness Orientation Improve the Performance of Agricultural New Ventures in China? The Mediating Effect of Sustainable Opportunity Recognition," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(4), pages 21582440211, December.
    3. Yi Zhang & Patrick Sik-Wah Fong & Daniel Yamoah Agyemang, 2021. "What Should Be Focused on When Digital Transformation Hits Industries? Literature Review of Business Management Adaptability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(23), pages 1-30, December.
    4. Conti, Claudio Ramos & Goldszmidt, Rafael & Vasconcelos, Flávio Carvalho de, 2020. "Firm characteristics and capabilities that enable superior performance in recessions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 553-561.
    5. Frank W.R. van Gool & Joyce J.P.A. Bierbooms & Inge M.B. Bongers & Richard T.J.M. Janssen, 2019. "Co‐creating a program for teams to maintain and reflect on their flexibility," International Journal of Health Planning and Management, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(4), pages 1937-1947, October.
    6. Fellnhofer, Katharina, 2022. "Entrepreneurial alertness toward responsible research and innovation: Digital technology makes the psychological heart of entrepreneurship pound," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 118(C).
    7. Tran, Yen & Truong, Anh Tran Tram, 2022. "Knowledge recontextualization by returnee entrepreneurs: The dynamic learning perspective," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 28(3).
    8. Lahcene Makhloufi & Abderrazak Ahmed Laghouag & Alhussain Ali Sahli & Fateh Belaid, 2021. "Impact of Entrepreneurial Orientation on Innovation Capability: The Mediating Role of Absorptive Capability and Organizational Learning Capabilities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(10), pages 1-20, May.
    9. Fellnhofer, Katharina, 2023. "Positivity and higher alertness levels facilitate discovery: Longitudinal sentiment analysis of emotions on Twitter," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 122(C).
    10. Demir, Robert & Campopiano, Giovanna & Kruckenhauser, Christian & Bauer, Florian, 2021. "Strategic agility, internationalisation speed and international success — The role of coordination mechanisms and growth modes," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 27(1).
    11. Tim R. Holcomb & R. Duane Ireland & R. Michael Holmes Jr. & Michael A. Hitt, 2009. "Architecture of Entrepreneurial Learning: Exploring the Link among Heuristics, Knowledge, and Action," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 33(1), pages 167-192, January.
    12. Aldawod, Alvin, 2022. "A framework for the opportunity recognition process in UK entrepreneurial universities," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 175(C).
    13. Ann-Christin Grözinger & Sven Wolff & Philipp Julian Ruf & Petra Moog, 2022. "The power of shared positivity: organizational psychological capital and firm performance during exogenous crises," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 58(2), pages 689-716, February.
    14. Lange, Francie & Tomini, Nino & Brinkmann, Florian & Kanbach, Dominik K. & Kraus, Sascha, 2023. "Demystifying massive and rapid business scaling – An explorative study on driving factors in digital start-ups," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 196(C).
    15. Kaya, Bahar & Abubakar, A. Mohammed & Behravesh, Elaheh & Yildiz, Harun & Mert, Ibrahim Sani, 2020. "Antecedents of innovative performance: Findings from PLS-SEM and fuzzy sets (fsQCA)," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 278-289.
    16. Antonia Mercedes García-Cabrera & María Gracia García-Soto, 2009. "A Dynamic Model of Technology-based Opportunity Recognition," Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Emerging Economies, Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India, vol. 18(2), pages 167-190, July.
    17. Abbas Matloubi, 2015. "Improving Factors Affecting the Development of Corporate Entrepreneurship in the Housing Sector Using QFD," Modern Applied Science, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 9(9), pages 220-220, September.
    18. Donbesuur, Francis & Owusu-Yirenkyi, Diana & Ampong, George Oppong Appiagyei & Hultman, Magnus, 2023. "Enhancing export intensity of entrepreneurial firms through bricolage and international opportunity recognition: The differential roles of explorative and exploitative learning," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    19. Buccieri, Dominic & Javalgi, Raj G. & Cavusgil, Erin, 2023. "Role of opportunity creation between reconfiguration and innovation: Insights from emerging market international new ventures," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 32(4).
    20. Faroque, Anisur R. & Morrish, Sussie C. & Kuivalainen, Olli & Sundqvist, Sanna & Torkkeli, Lasse, 2021. "Microfoundations of network exploration and exploitation capabilities in international opportunity recognition," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(1).
    21. Xia, Tianjiao & Liu, Xiaohui, 2021. "Cultural values and innovation: The mediating role of entrepreneurial learning capacity," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 27(1).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Mai, Nhat Chi, 2020. "Unpacking the process of overseas knowledge recontextualisation in returnee entrepreneurship - a learning perspective : a study of returnee entrepreneurs in Vietnam," OSF Preprints y5psh, Center for Open Science.
    2. Dimo Dimov, 2007. "Beyond the Single-Person, Single-Insight Attribution in Understanding Entrepreneurial Opportunities," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 31(5), pages 713-731, September.
    3. Andrew C. Corbett & Keith M. Hmieleski, 2007. "The Conflicting Cognitions of Corporate Entrepreneurs," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 31(1), pages 103-121, January.
    4. Linda Argote & Ella Miron-Spektor, 2011. "Organizational Learning: From Experience to Knowledge," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 22(5), pages 1123-1137, October.
    5. Antti Kauppinen & Anita Juho, 2012. "Internationalisation of SMEs from the perspective of social learning theory," Journal of International Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 10(3), pages 200-231, September.
    6. Agulles, Remei & Prats, Mª Julia, 2011. "Learning in practice: What organizational and management literature can contribute to professional and occupational development," IESE Research Papers D/938, IESE Business School.
    7. Guo, Jingjing & Guo, Bin & Zhou, Jianghua & Wu, Xiaobo, 2020. "How does the ambidexterity of technological learning routine affect firm innovation performance within industrial clusters? The moderating effects of knowledge attributes," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    8. Tumasjan, Andranik & Braun, Reiner, 2012. "In the eye of the beholder: How regulatory focus and self-efficacy interact in influencing opportunity recognition," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 27(6), pages 622-636.
    9. Dev K. Dutta & Mary M. Crossan, 2005. "The Nature of Entrepreneurial Opportunities: Understanding the Process Using the 4I Organizational Learning Framework," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 29(4), pages 425-449, July.
    10. Sharon A. Alvarez & Jay B. Barney & Philip Anderson, 2013. "Forming and Exploiting Opportunities: The Implications of Discovery and Creation Processes for Entrepreneurial and Organizational Research," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 24(1), pages 301-317, February.
    11. Thomas Ã…stebro & Kevyn Yong, 2016. "Invention Quality and Entrepreneurial Earnings: The Role of Prior Employment Variety," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 40(2), pages 381-400, March.
    12. Adrian S. Choo & Kevin W. Linderman & Roger G. Schroeder, 2007. "Method and Psychological Effects on Learning Behaviors and Knowledge Creation in Quality Improvement Projects," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 53(3), pages 437-450, March.
    13. Dean A. Shepherd & Dawn R. DeTienne, 2005. "Prior Knowledge, Potential Financial Reward, and Opportunity Identification," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 29(1), pages 91-112, January.
    14. Corbett, Andrew C., 2007. "Learning asymmetries and the discovery of entrepreneurial opportunities," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 97-118, January.
    15. Blume, Brian D. & Covin, Jeffrey G., 2011. "Attributions to intuition in the venture founding process: Do entrepreneurs actually use intuition or just say that they do?," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 137-151, January.
    16. Robert M. Gemmell & Richard J. Boland & David A. Kolb, 2012. "The Socio–Cognitive Dynamics of Entrepreneurial Ideation," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 36(5), pages 1053-1073, September.
    17. Sung‐Choon Kang & Scott A. Snell, 2009. "Intellectual Capital Architectures and Ambidextrous Learning: A Framework for Human Resource Management," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(1), pages 65-92, January.
    18. Jeffery S. McMullen & Katrina M. Brownell & Joel Adams, 2021. "What Makes an Entrepreneurship Study Entrepreneurial? Toward A Unified Theory of Entrepreneurial Agency," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 45(5), pages 1197-1238, September.
    19. Pérez-Centeno, Victor, 2018. "Brain-driven entrepreneurship research: Expanded review and research agenda towards entrepreneurial enhancement," Working Papers 02/18, Institut für Mittelstandsforschung (IfM) Bonn.
    20. Ulrich Lichtenthaler & Eckhard Lichtenthaler, 2009. "A Capability‐Based Framework for Open Innovation: Complementing Absorptive Capacity," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(8), pages 1315-1338, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:entthe:v:29:y:2005:i:4:p:451-472. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.