Interorganizational learning: a bibliometric review and research agenda

Abstract

Purpose Scholarly interest in interorganizational learning (IOL) has spiked in the past decade because of its potential to absorb, transfer and create valuable knowledge for enhanced innovative performance and sustained competitive advantage. However, only a handful of review studies exists on the topic. The evolution of IOL has not been studied explicitly and there is a lack of understanding of the field trends. To fill this gap, this paper aims to comprehensively review the literature on IOL and map its evolution and trends using bibliometric techniques. In particular, the authors use visualization of science mapping freeware to systematize the findings and interpret the results. Design/methodology/approach The authors synthesize the findings using “evaluative bibliometric techniques” to identify the quality and quantity indicators of the IOL research and use “relational bibliometric techniques” to determine the structural indicators of the IOL field such as the intellectual foundations and emerging research themes of IOL research. Findings Through an analysis of 208 journal publications obtained from the Scopus database, the authors determine the leading authors, countries, highly cited papers and their contributions to the IOL literature. By identifying the key hotspots, intellectual foundations and emerging trends of IOL, the authors provide promising avenues in IOL research. Originality/value To the best of the knowledge, this study is the first to systematically review the IOL literature and provide future research directions.

Interorganizational learning between knowledge-based entrepreneurial ventures responding to COVID-19

“…However, there is a significant negative relationship between adversity and IOL, which is the opposite of what was outlined in hypothesis 1. Although the crisis-induced adversity from COVID-19 was expected to be an "enabling condition" for IOL (Anand et al, 2020), firms are perhaps so severely affected by the crisis that there are insufficient abilities, resources, or willingness to engage in activities and interactions facilitating IOL (Eiriz et al, 2017;Peronard and Brix, 2019). Moreover, the lockdown following the COVID-19 pandemic may have abruptly inhibited established routes of interorganizational interaction and collaboration, such as attending trade fairs or physically meeting collaborators.…”

Guest editorial

“…It thus serves as an important source of reference for existing and future studies that can be used to both frame the need for new research and to claim new knowledge to our field. This paper therefore represents an utterly relevant source of reference to answer to the question about "where the field of interorganizational learning is now" (Anand et al, 2021). The following six papers represent interesting examples of "where our field is going towards, both theoretically and empirically.…”

“…Theoretical advances made in the special issue Inspired by Colquitt and Zapata-Phelan (2007), Figure 1 is developed to demonstrate an overview of the overall scientific advances made by the seven papers in the special issue. The bibliometric review by Anand et al (2021) represents a new point of departure with a novel state-of-the-art of the field of interorganizational learning. This publication can, as mentioned above, beneficially act as a new "point of departure" for future studies in our field.…”

“…Guest editorial networks and ecosystems (Peronard and Brix, 2019;Reichenbach et al, 2021;Buhagiar, 2021;Peronard, 2021). Finally, the role of interorganizational learning in the theoretical context of organizational ambidexterity seems like a beneficial avenue for future research (Anand et al, 2021). The point is, that a concrete view on both how processes of exploration and exploitation and the work of "structuring" such processes across organizational boundaries brings out features important to understand the implicit (or explicit) organization design of new, interorganizational collaborations and also the innovation and types of learning outcomes that different versions of "structured settings" enable (Brix, 2019;Steiber et al, 2021;Brix et al, 2021).…”

Knowledge sharing, knowledge transfer and SMEs: evolution, antecedents, outcomes and directions

“…Using complementary bibliometric techniques, such as, co-citation analysis of references and bibliographic coupling of publications, this paper contributes by systematically synthesizing the extant literature of KS and KT in the SME context and predicts emerging themes through a concept map (see Figure 7) of the antecedents, outcomes and future directions of KS and KT in SME research. The methodological rigor of bibliometrics enables the observations to be quantified and thus less distorted by cognitive bias of researchers (Anand et al 2020). The next sections present the research design with a detailed methodology, then the results of the research are presented, followed by discussions, the concept map, and future implications.…”