Power,Legitimacy,and Urgency in Organizational Learning: Learning Through Stakeholder Complaints to Improve Quality in the California Nursing Home Industry
Restricted accessResearch articleFirst published online August, 2010
Power,Legitimacy,and Urgency in Organizational Learning: Learning Through Stakeholder Complaints to Improve Quality in the California Nursing Home Industry
Although research suggests that organizations learn through interactions with stakeholders, little is known regarding how this process occurs. The author addresses this void by examining how the power, legitimacy, or urgency related to stakeholders’ interactions influence organizations’ abilities to learn from these interactions. Hypothesis tests on a panel of nursing homes suggest that organizations learn more effectively through interactions with powerful stakeholders or those whose feedback requires immediate response. Findings contribute to organizational learning theory by identifying how different forms of experience vary substantially in their impacts on organizational activity. Related implications for stakeholder management and managerial practice are also discussed.
Adler, P.S., & Clark, K.B. ( 1991). Behind the learning-curve- A sketch of the learning-process . Management Science, 37, 267-281.
2.
Agle, B.R., Mitchell, R.K., & Sonnenfeld, J.A. (1999). Who matters to CEOs? An investigation of stakeholder attributes and salience, corporate performance, and CEO values. Academy of Management Journal, 42, 507-525.
3.
Argote, L. ( 1993). Group and organizational learning-curves- Individual, system and environmental components. British Journal of Social Psychology, 32, 31-51.
4.
Argote, L. ( 1996). Organizational learning curves: Persistence, transfer and turnover. International Journal of Technology Management , 11, 759-769.
5.
Argote, L., Beckman, S.L., & Epple, D. ( 1990). The persistence and transfer of learning in industrial settings. Management Science, 36, 140-154.
6.
Arthur, J.B., & Aiman-Smith, L. (2001). Gainsharing and organizational learning: An analysis of employee suggestions over time. Academy of Management Journal, 44, 737-754.
7.
Arthur, J.B., & Huntley, C.L. ( 2005). Ramping up the organizational learning curve: Assessing the impact of deliberate learning on organizational performance under gainsharing . Academy of Management Journal, 48, 1159-1170.
8.
Banaszak-Holl, J., Mitchell, W., Baum, J.A.C., & Berta, W.B. ( 2006). Transfer learning in ongoing and newly acquired components of multiunit chains: U.S. nursing homes, 1991-1997. Industrial and Corporate Change, 15, 41-75.
9.
Baum, J.A.C., & Ingram, P. ( 1998). Survival-enhancing learning in the Manhattan hotel industry, 1898-1980. Management Science, 44, 996-1016.
10.
Baumard, P., & Starbuck, W.H. (2005). Learning from failures: Why it may not happen. Long Range Planning, 38, 281-298.
11.
California Healthcare Foundation. (2007). The changing face of California’s nursing home industry. Oakland, CA: Author.
12.
Carroll, J.S., Rudolph, J.W., & Hatakenaka, S. (2002). Learning from experience in high-hazard organizations. In B. Staw & R. M. Kramer (Eds.), Research in organizational behavior (Vol. 24, pp. 87-137). Oxford, England: Elsevier Science.
13.
Cyert, R.M., & March, J.G. ( 1963). A behavioral theory of the firm. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
14.
Darr, E.D., Argote, L., & Epple, D. ( 1995). The acquisition, transfer, and depreciation of knowledge in service organizations: Productivity in franchises. Management Science, 41, 1750-1762.
15.
Desai, V. ( 2008). Constrained growth: How experience, legitimacy, and age influence risk taking in organizations. Organization Science , 19, 594-608.
16.
Elsbach, K.D., & Sutton, R.I. ( 1992). Acquiring organizational legitimacy through illegitimate actions-A marriage of institutional and impression management theories. Academy of Management Journal, 35, 699-738.
17.
Freeman, E. ( 1984). Strategic management: A stakeholder approach. Boston, MA: Pitman.
18.
Frooman, J. ( 1999). Stakeholder influence strategies. Academy of Management Review, 24, 191-205.
19.
Greenwood, R., Suddaby, R., & Hinings, C.R. ( 2002). Theorizing change: The role of professional associations in the transformation of institutionalized fields. Academy of Management Journal, 45, 58-80.
Greve, H.R. ( 2008). A behavioral theory of firm growth: Sequential attention to size and performance goals. Academy of Management Journal , 51, 476-494.
22.
Haunschild, P.R., & Beckman, C.M. ( 1998). When do interlocks matter? Alternate sources of information and interlock influence. Administrative Science Quarterly , 43, 815-844.
23.
Haunschild, P.R., & Rhee, M. ( 2004). The role of volition in organizational learning: The case of automotive product recalls. Management Science, 50, 1545-1560.
24.
Haunschild, P.R., & Sullivan, B. ( 2002). Learning from complexity: Effects of prior accidents and incidents on airlines’ learning. Administrative Science Quarterly, 47, 609-643.
25.
Hillman, A.J., & Keim, G.D. ( 2001). Shareholder value, stakeholder management, and social issues: What’s the bottom line?Strategic Management Journal, 22, 125-139.
26.
Hoffman, J., & Ocasio, W. ( 2001). Not all events are attended equally: Toward a middle-range theory of industry attention to external events. Organization Science, 12, 414-434.
27.
Ingram, P., & Baum, J.A.C. ( 1997). Opportunity and constraint: Organizations’ learning from the operating and competitive experience of industries. Strategic Management Journal, 18, 75-98.
Kassinis, G., & Vafeas, N. ( 2006). Stakeholder pressures and environmental performance. Academy of Management Journal, 49, 145-159.
30.
Lapre, M.A., & Tsikriktsis, N. (2006). Organizational learning curves for customer dissatisfaction: Heterogeneity across airlines. Management Science, 52, 352-366.
31.
Levin, D.Z. ( 2000). Organizational learning and the transfer of knowledge: An investigation of quality improvement. Organization Science , 11, 630-647.
32.
Levinthal, D.A., & March, J.G. ( 1993). The myopia of learning. Strategic Management Journal, 14, 95-112.
March, J.G., & Shapira, Z. ( 1992). Variable risk preferences and the focus of attention . Psychological Review, 99, 172-183.
35.
Marcus, A.A., & Nichols, M.L. ( 1999). On the edge: Heeding the warnings of unusual events. Organization Science, 10, 482-499.
36.
Meyer, A.D. ( 1982). Adapting to environmental jolts. Administrative Science Quarterly, 27, 515-537.
37.
Meyer, J.W., & Rowan, B. ( 1977). Institutionalized organizations- Formal-structure as myth and ceremony. American Journal of Sociology, 83, 340-363.
38.
Mitchell, R.K., Agle, B.R., & Wood, D.J. ( 1997). Toward a theory of stakeholder identification and salience: Defining the principle of who and what really counts. Academy of Management Review, 22, 853-886.
39.
Nelson, R.R., & Winter, S.G. ( 1982). An evolutionary theory of economic change. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Ocasio, W. ( 1997). Towards an attention-based view of the firm. Strategic Management Journal, 18, 187-206.
42.
Pfeffer, J., & Salancik, G.R. (1978). The external control of organizations: A resource dependence perspective. New York, NY: Harper & Row.
43.
Rindova, V.P., Williamson, I.O., Petkova, A.P., & Sever, J.M. ( 2005). Being good or being known: An empirical examination of the dimensions, antecedents, and consequences of organizational reputation . Academy of Management Journal, 48, 1033-1049.
44.
Roome, N., & Wijen, F. ( 2006). Stakeholder power and organizational learning in corporate environmental management. Organization Studies, 27, 235-263.
45.
Rowley, T.J., & Moldoveanu, M. (2003). When will stakeholder groups act? An interest- and identity-based model of stakeholder group mobilization . Academy of Management Review, 28, 204-219.
46.
Shafer, S.M., Nembhard, D.A., & Uzumeri, M.V. ( 2001). The effects of worker learning, forgetting, and heterogeneity on assembly line productivity. Management Science, 47, 1639-1653.
47.
Sitkin, S. ( 1992). Learning through failure: The strategy of small losses . Research in Organizational Behavior, 14, 231-266.
Suchman, M.C. ( 1995). Managing legitimacy-Strategic and institutional approaches . Academy of Management Review, 20, 571-610.
50.
U.S. General Accounting Office. (1998). California nursing homes: Care problems persist despite federal and state oversight (GAO/HEHS-98-202). Washington, DC: Author.
51.
Wiersma, E. ( 2007). Conditions that shape the learning curve: Factors that increase the ability and opportunity to learn. Management Science, 53, 1903-1915.
52.
Zinkhan, G.M., & Balazs, A.L. ( 2004). A stakeholder-integrated approach to health care management . Journal of Business Research, 57, 984-989.
