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Although there is widespread agreement about the importance of and need for unlearning particularly in an organizational context, concerns have been expressed by some researchers with respect to the coherence of the concept. The purpose of this paper is to complement organizational theories of unlearning with a clearer definition of intentional unlearning and develops an “unlearning cycle” comprising of the steps that influence unlearning focused on the need to update knowledge obtained in the past.

In this paper, the authors review both the current state of conceptual development and the empirical underpinning of the concept of unlearning and relate it to emerging literature on the links between levels of learning to then propose a conceptual framework which includes employees and managers as key actors in enabling intentional unlearning.

Unlearning critics have argued that unlearning has no explanatory value and is unnecessary because clear alternatives and less problematic concepts better frame the research gap that has been identified in the unlearning research literature. By addressing these concerns, this study proposes three key structures to facilitate intentional unlearning, namely, those represented by the unlearning cycle.

This study sheds light on the relationship across different unlearning levels. In addition, this study attempts to indicate how greater rigor may be brought to the development of research in the fields of intentional unlearning.

Knowledge acquired from sources of unverified information such as gossip, partial truths or lies, in this paper it is termed as “counter-knowledge.” The purpose of this paper is to explore this topic through an exploration of the links between a Hospital-in-the-Home Units (HHUs) learning process (LP), counter-knowledge, and the utilization of communication technologies. The following two questions are addressed: Does the reduction of counter-knowledge result in the utilization of communication technologies? Does the development of counter-knowledge hinder the LP?

This paper examines the relevance of communication technologies to the exploration and exploitation of knowledge for 252 patients of a (HHU) within a Spanish regional hospital. The data collected was analyzed using the PLS-Graph.

To HHU managers, this study offers a set of guidelines to assist in their gaining an understanding of the role of counter-knowledge in organizational LPs and the potential contribution of communication technologies. Our findings support the proposition that the negative effects of counter-knowledge can be mitigated by using communication technologies.

It is argued in this paper that counter-knowledge may play a variety of different roles in the implementation of LPs. Specifically, the assignment of communication technologies to homecare units has given them the means to filter counter-knowledge and prevent users from any possible problems caused by such counter-knowledge.

The purpose of this study is to explore the role of continuous learning and the mitigation or elimination of knowledge barriers affecting information technology (IT) assimilation in the health-care sector. Most of the problems with IT assimilations stem from a poor understanding of the nature of suitable information, the lack of trust, cultural differences, the lack of appropriate training and hierarchical bureaucratic structures and procedures. To overcome these barriers, this study provides evidence that a continuous learning process can play a part in overcoming some of the obstacles to the assimilation of IT.

This study investigates how a continuous learning environment can counteract the presence of knowledge barriers, and, along with such an environment, can, in turn, facilitate IT assimilation. The study uses ADANCO 2.0.1 Professional for Windows and involves the collection and analysis of data provided by 210 health-care end users.

The study provides evidence in support of the proposition that continuous learning may facilitate the assimilation of IT by health-care end users through the mitigation of knowledge barriers (e.g. lack of trust or resistance to change). The mitigation of these barriers requires the gathering and utilization of new knowledge and knowledge structures. The results support the hypothesis that one way in which this can be achieved is through continuous learning (i.e. through assessing the situation, consulting experts, seeking feedback and tracking progress).

A limitation of the study is the relatively simple statistical method that has been used for the analysis. However, the results provided here will serve as a preliminary basis for more sophisticated analysis which is currently underway.

The study provides useful insights into ways of using continuous learning to facilitate IT assimilation by end users in the health-care domain. This can be of use to hospitals seeking to implement end user IT technologies and, in particular, telemedicine technologies. It can also be used to develop awareness of knowledge barriers and possible approaches to mitigate the effects of such barriers. Such an awareness can assist hospital staff in finding creative solutions for using technology tools. This potentially augments the ability of hospital staff to work with patients and carers, encouraging them to take initiative (make choices and solve problems relevant to them). This, in turn, allows hospitals to avoid negative and thus de-motivating experiences involving themselves and their end users (patients) and improving IT assimilation. This is liable to lead to improved morale and improved assimilation of IT by end users (patients).

As ICT systems and services should entail participation of a wide range of users, developers and stakeholders, including medical doctors, nurses, social workers, patients and programmers and interaction designers, the study provides useful social implication for health management and people well-being.

The paper contributes to a better understanding of the nature and impacts of continuous learning. Although previous studies in the field of knowledge management have shown that knowledge management procedures and routines can provide support to IT assimilation, few studies, if any, have explored the relationship between continuous learning and IT assimilation with particular emphasis on knowledge barriers in the health-care domain.

This paper argues that the combination of factors that facilitate focal and peripheral vision represent two distinct types of knowledge corridors. While focal vision may help detect signals that relate to the current objectives of the firm, peripheral vision is directed to non-central issues that may provide signals that relate to emerging trends in the external environment. Ambidexterity vision refers to the tension between these two different business visions within the same organization. This paper aims to examine the significance of procedural memory to an organization’s ambidexterity vision, along with investigating the impact procedural memory has on organizational learning.

The research conducted in this study addresses the following two questions: Does the enhancement of procedural memory result in the development of superior ambidexterity vision? Does the simultaneous development of both focal and peripheral vision enhance organizational learning? These research questions are studied by conducting an empirical investigation involving data provided by 203 banking employees. These data are analysed using a structural equation modelling approach.

Analysis of the data provides support for the existence of a relationship between ambidexterity vision and organizational learning.

The findings suggest that the re-direction of managers’ perceptions to supporting and enhancing an ambidexterity vision is likely to result in an improvement in their ability to identify emerging trends, new and emerging customers and potential shifts in customer needs and tastes.

This work suggests that the re-direction of managers’ perceptions to supporting and enhancing an ambidexterity vision is likely to result in an improvement in their ability to identify emerging trends, new and emerging customers and potential shifts in customer needs and tastes.

Peripheral vision (PV) or side vision refers to that which is visible to the eye while being outside of its central area of focus. PV enables organisms to detect movement and potential threats in their environment. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the understanding of the concept of PV in the business environment, as well as its relationship with knowledge structures in the form of technology knowledge and absorptive capacity. The relative importance and significance of technology knowledge and absorptive capacity as mediators between “relational capital” (RC) and “PV” are also examined.

The paper reports an empirical investigation involving 125 employees from the banking sector. Data collected was statistically analysed using PLS-graph software version 03.00. Results of the data analysis show relationships uncovered in the existing literature.

The creation of RC by employees from the banking sector relies to a large extent on managers’ ability to perceive, analyse and understand activity that is often outside the focus of their attention.

Managers who explicitly value their RC have a wider vision of their environment. In turn, a wider understanding of the activity in the environment drives the strengthening of the organisation and its RC.

PV can have a direct impact on the organisation’s appetite for the development of its technology knowledge base, thus contributing to enhance the firm’s absorptive capacity as well as the extent, quality and value of its RC.

Over the past few years, social networking sites (SNSs) have become very useful for firms, allowing companies to manage the customer–brand relationships. In this context, SNSs can be considered as a learning tool because of the brand knowledge that customers develop from these relationships. Because of the fact that knowledge in organisations is embodied in the concept of the learning organisation, customers may create brand knowledge as a consequence of two learning facilitators: informational and instrumental value. Then, the purpose of this paper is to identify the role played by brand knowledge in the process of creating customer capital, in the context of SNSs.

A total of 259 users of SNSs, who were followers or fans of brand pages, participated in this study. Data were collected through an online survey and they were analysed using structural equation modelling.

The results of the study show that brand pages at SNS can perform brand knowledge by providing purposive gratifications to its customers. Moreover, they can also develop an indirect effect on customer capital, through the direct effect that brand knowledge has on it. Therefore, the results of the study will help managers design their learning strategies in relation to SNS and confirm the need of using SNS as a learning tool.

Few, if any, studies have analysed whether gratifications, usually related to media, work as learning facilitators in the context of brand pages at SNS.

People live and work in a world where they do not have complete knowledge and, as a result, they make use of rumours, beliefs and assumptions about relevant areas of concern. The term counter-knowledge has been used to refer to knowledge created from unverified sources. The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between counter-knowledge and human capital (HC) as well as investigating interactions between absorptive capacity (ACAP) and HC.

A model is tested to examine the relationship between counter-knowledge, HC and the financial performance of 112 companies listed on the Spanish Stock Exchange.

The results are calculated using structural equation modelling. This leads to the main conclusion that while the increasing presence of counter-knowledge leads to a reduction of ACAP and, by extension with HC. However, in the context of the sample, HC has positive effects on firms’ performance. Therefore, consideration must be given to the evaluation of the real cost of counter-knowledge or inappropriate assumptions on HC.

The key managerial implication of this paper is that management should actively develop an organizational culture which questions the source of any knowledge and favours evidence-based reasoning over reasoning based on “gut instinct”, what has worked in the past and reasoning based on rumours and gossip.

This paper provides empirical support for the argument that the all so-called “knowledge” generated from the sharing of unverified news is not necessarily good knowledge. Rumours or gossip shared thanks to unverified sources are some examples that illustrate people possibility to create inappropriate or false beliefs via unsupported explanations and justifications.

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems not only have a broad functional scope promising to support many different business processes, they also embed many different aspects of the company’s organizational memory. Disparities can exist between those memory contents in the ERP system and related contents in other memory media, such as individuals’ memories, and the organizational structure and culture. It is our contention that, in general, these disparities or memory mismatches, as we will refer to them, lead to under‐performance of ERP systems. In this paper we focus on potential memory mismatches that may arise with respect to the embedding of process knowledge within ERP packages. Packages such as SAP provide a varied and rich environment for process modeling. However, we suspect that there are still many instances where process knowledge is either lost or represented in different ways in different parts of the organization. As we will discuss, the results of such memory mismatches will often not become evident until the system is in use. The overall thrust of the paper is to identify a variety of concerns, intriguing questions and avenues for future research.

Today, in small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs), entrepreneurs must take a more strategic perspective that is evidenced by the need to scan the enterprise to discover how they might improve customer relations as well as promote improved entrepreneurial actions. The paper aims to focus on this issue.

This study examines the impact of the existence of an “open‐minded context” in an organisation at time (T) on actions that concern the challenging of entrepreneurial actions at time (T+1). It also examines the relationship between explorative and exploitation processes and customer relations. These relationships are examined through an empirical investigation of data obtained from 107 SMEs from the Spanish telecommunications industry, using partial least squares (PLS).

The results indicate that the effects of an “open‐minded context” at time (T) on customer relations at time (T+1) are mediated through the existence of explorative and exploitation knowledge processes at time (T+1).

Practices which may be based on explicit knowledge or on tacit knowledge in the form of processes and routines need to be challenged prior to the adoption of new knowledge by the organisation. In such situations, it will be necessary to modify or even delete some knowledge in order to ensure that employees have access to the up‐to‐date explorative and exploitative knowledge processes necessary to maintain or enhance customer relations.

In situations where organisations and their members face rapidly changing environments it is necessary to challenge the entrepreneurial actions which have been derived from the founding entrepreneurs.

The paper examines how the nature and existence of an open‐mindedness context is linked to the nature and existence of knowledge exploration and exploitation processes enacted by the workforce of an organisation.