The Role of Learning in International Entrepreneurship

Abstract

Learning theory suggests that organizations learn when the activities and experiences of individuals become assimilated into the routines, systems, and policies of the organization (Grant, 1996). A premise of study 1 is that the greater the attention a firm devotes to developing new knowledge and to exploiting existing knowledge, the greater its learning. This premise is consistent with prior theory which holds that the amount of information learned and the ease of its retrieval depend upon the intensity of effort expended in its acquisition (Cohen & Levinthal, 1990), and with the notion that a firm's behavior can be envisioned as the pattern of effort and attention devoted to specific activities (Ocasio, 1997). The extent to which firms devote attention to learning in the international as well as domestic marketplace can be considered as critical outcome variables, and an important question pertains to how several factors affect this ‘learning effort.’

Citation

De Clercq, D., Sapienza, H.J., Sandberg, W.R. and Crijns, H. (2006), "The Role of Learning in International Entrepreneurship", Wiklund, J., Dimov, D., Katz, J.A. and Shepherd, D.A. (Ed.) Entrepreneurship: Frameworks And Empirical Investigations From Forthcoming Leaders Of European Research (Advances in Entrepreneurship, Firm Emergence and Growth, Vol. 9), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 311-328. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1074-7540(06)09011-8