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Publications
  • 2016
  • Working Paper
  • HBS Working Paper Series

Making Experience Count: The Role of Reflection in Individual Learning

By: Giada Di Stefano, Francesca Gino, Gary P. Pisano and Bradley Staats
  • Format:Print
  • | Language:English
  • | Pages:39
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Abstract

How do organizations learn? In this paper, we build on research on the microfoundations of strategy and learning to study the individual underpinnings of organizational learning. We argue that once an individual has accumulated experience with a task, the benefit of accumulating additional experience is inferior to the benefit of deliberately articulating and codifying the previously accumulated experience. We explain the performance outcomes associated with such deliberate learning efforts using both a cognitive (task understanding) and an emotional (self-efficacy) mechanism. We study the proposed framework by means of a mixed-method approach that combines the reach and relevance of a field experiment with the precision of laboratory experiments. Our results support the proposed theoretical framework and bear important implications from both a theoretical and practical viewpoint.

Keywords

Learning By Thinking; Reflection; Knowledge Creation; Self-efficacy; Perception; Performance; Learning; Knowledge; Cognition and Thinking; India

Citation

Di Stefano, Giada, Francesca Gino, Gary P. Pisano, and Bradley Staats. "Making Experience Count: The Role of Reflection in Individual Learning." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 14-093, March 2014. (Revised June 2016.)
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About The Authors

Francesca Gino

Negotiation, Organizations & Markets
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Gary P. Pisano

Technology and Operations Management
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Related Work

    • 2016
    • Faculty Research

    Making Experience Count: The Role of Reflection in Individual Learning

    By: Giada Di Stefano, Francesca Gino, Gary P. Pisano and Bradley Staats
Related Work
  • Making Experience Count: The Role of Reflection in Individual Learning By: Giada Di Stefano, Francesca Gino, Gary P. Pisano and Bradley Staats
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