The learning organization as a context for value co-creation

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to explore the relationship between the concept of the learning organization and that of the co-creation of value.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper is conceptual in nature and draws on data from a case study of a small highly innovative Australian company.

Findings

The authors show that, from a value co-creation perspective, the learning organization can be viewed as an open, collaborative, social/economic actor engaged in social/economic activities with other interdependent actors (organizations or stakeholders) in a network or ecosystem of actors to serve its mission/purpose and the well-being of the ecosystem.

Research limitations/implications

As a conceptual paper, the authors rely primarily on previous research as the basis for the argument. The implications of the findings are that, as value co-creation practices are founded upon the generation and leveraging of specific intangible capital resources, more research located in alternative research paradigms is required.

Practical implications

There are important implications for organizational leadership in that the practices that underpin value co-creation require the leadership to be able to work constructively with multiple forms of systemic and agentic power.

Social implications

In increasingly turbulent and hyper-competitive global operational contexts, sustainable value creation is becoming recognized as a collective achievement within a broad eco-system of collaborators. This has implications for the relational capabilities of all collaborators.

Originality/value

The authors introduce a new perspective on the role of power management in the facilitation of the co-creation of value. Arguing that value creation is becoming recognized as a “collective achievement”, they focus on the collaborative practices that enable such an achievement.

Citation

Mastio, E., Chew, E. and Dovey, K.A. (2019), "The learning organization as a context for value co-creation", The Learning Organization, Vol. 27 No. 4, pp. 291-303. https://doi.org/10.1108/TLO-12-2018-0219