Triple-loop learning as foundation for profound change, individual cultivation, and radical innovation: Construction processes beyond scientific and rational knowledge

Purpose: How does new knowledge or profound change come about and which processes of construction are involved? This article aims at developing an epistemological as well as methodological framework which is capable of explaining how profound and radical change can be brought about in various contexts, such as in individual cultivation, in organizations, in processes of radical innovation, etc. The concept of emergent innovation will be developed—it is based on the triple-loop learning strategy and the U-theory approach which opens up a perspective how the domain of scientific/rational knowledge, constructivism, and wisdom could grow together more closely. Design/Structure: This article develops a strategy which is referred to as “triple-loop learning”, which is not only the basis for processes of profound change, but also brings about a new dimension in the field of innovation, learning, and knowledge dynamics: the existential realm and the domain of wisdom. A concrete approach realizing the triple-loop learning strategy is presented. The final section shows, how these concepts can be interpreted in the context of the constructivist approach and how they might offer some extensions to this paradigm. Findings: The process of learning and change has to be extended to a domain which concerns existential issues as well as questions of wisdom. Profound change can only happen, if these domains are taken into consideration. The triple-loop learning strategy offers a model fulfilling this criterion. It is an “epistemo-existential strategy” for profound change on various levels. Conclusions: The (cognitive) processes and attitudes of receptivity, suspension, redirecting, openness, deep knowing, as well as “profound change/innovation from the interior” turn out to be core concepts in this process of emergent innovation. They are compatible with constructivist concepts. Glasersfeld’s concept of functional fitness is carried to an extreme in the suggested approach of profound change and finds an extension in the existential domain.