ABSTRACT
Organizational learning (OL) is a growing field that studies the processes through which new knowledge is learned and used in an organization. OL involves the leveraging of organizational knowledge assets and the continued development of an organization’s knowledge base. While OL has been studied since the mid-1960s, there are many aspects of the field for which researchers have yet to reach a consensus. Most notable is the lack of commonly accepted definition of OL. Additional aspects that remain unresolved include the appropriate theoretical perspective from which to view OL and the identification of the most appropriate agent of learning.This entry begins with a discussion of the various definitions of OL followed by a brief history that highlights key OL researchers and key OL journals. The following section reviews cognitive, behavioral, and social constructivist perspectives of OL; the individual, group, and organizational levels as agents of learning; the commonly accepted components of the OL process; and the types of learning that occur in organizations. This entry concludes with a discussion of the value of OL and a map of the conceptual landscape of OL research.
