ABSTRACT
Research on expertise, case-based reasoning, and learning through work has indicated that errors at work can be signifi cant sources for professional learning (e.g., Eraut et al. 1998; Gruber 2001). However, despite its relevance, the issue of individual and team learning from errors at work has received only marginal attention in empirical research (Bauer and Mulder 2008). Existing research on errors and learning from errors has mainly been conducted from an organizational perspective, for example, in studies on human error and safety management (Glendon et al. 2006; Reason 1990; Senders and Moray 1991; Zhao and Olivera 2006) or organizational learning (Argote and Todocara 2007; Sitkin 1992). By ‘organizational perspective’ we mean that errors, their prevention, or potential benefi ts of learning through them, are primarily analyzed from a macro perspective that focuses on the processes and characteristics of an organization as a system (e.g., Reason 1990). Because of their specifi c focus on the organization, the indicated lines of inquiry have made only minor contributions to explaining individual learning from errors at work (Ohlsson 1996). This is our area of interest: explaining individual learning from errors at work and providing instruments for its measurement. For this purpose, we employ a micro perspective on the behaviour, cognition, and learning of individuals and of individuals within teams (Bauer and Gruber 2007). Though a handful of studies exist that share this interest (e.g., Cannon and Edmondson 2001; Edmondson 1996; Meurier et al. 1997; Tjosvold et al. 2004; Tucker and Edmondson 2003), they vary substantially in their theoretical foundations as well as in their conceptualization and operationalization of learning from errors. Therefore, there is currently no coherent foundation for research in this area (for a review of existing approaches to individual and team learning from errors supporting this assertion, see Bauer and Mulder 2008).
