Organizational Identity & Learning: Uncovering Subtle Aspects of Organizational Learning

In an attempt to expand the field's thinking beyond notions of organizational learning rooted in individual-level conceptualizations (i.e., behavior-based, performance-based, knowledge-based learning) we provide a theoretical argument for a form of learning unique to the collective level, which we term "meaning-based" learning. meaning-based learning involves changes in the intersubjective meanings (not just the language and labels) used by the members of a collective in their daily interactions. Because this form of learning involves (often tacit) changes to intersubjective meanings - a supra-individual concept - the members of the collective might or might not explicitly articulate, or even be aware of, this form of learning as it occurs. Using the relationship between organizational identity and organizational learning as a springboard, we examine the nature of this collective form of learning and discuss its implications for future research on organizational learning.