Article ID: | iaor20073576 |
Country: | United States |
Volume: | 50 |
Issue: | 11 |
Start Page Number: | 1603 |
End Page Number: | 1613 |
Publication Date: | Nov 2004 |
Journal: | Management Science |
Authors: | Holan Pablo Martin de, Phillips Nelson |
Keywords: | knowledge management |
How organizations create, transfer, and retain knowledge has been the focus of intensive investigation by management researchers. However, one aspect of the dynamics of knowledge – organizational forgetting – has received comparatively little attention. In this paper, we draw on an exploratory, multiple-case study of learning in international strategic alliances to explore how and why organizations forget. Based on our case study, we develop a theory of organizational forgetting, discuss the role of forgetting in the dynamics of organizational knowledge, and present a typology of types of organizational forgetting.