Developments within digital technology are often seen as an enabler, allowing professions to connect to outside players for competence and new ways of performing their professional work. At the same time, it is often seen as a threat, challenging professional claims to competence and status. This article explores how the implementation of new digital technology affects a profession. The empirical data are from a case study from the maritime industry that focuses on ship engineers and the implementation of an advanced sustainable fuel system and a subsequent new business model to enable its operationalization. Our findings indicate that digital technology created pressure on the profession when their existing competencies did not cover the maintenance of this new technology. The solution for the shipowner to mend the competency gap was more digital technology, specifically technology that enabled more connectivity toward the outside world. This article shows how the profession of the ship engineer was able to connect to outside partners so they could gain competence and incorporate the new digital technology in their professional work. These relations shape the professional work of the ship engineers and move the profession toward connective professionalism. The contribution of this paper is the identification of mechanisms like the pressure to connect to outside actors, removal of barriers, and the observed value of the professional work. These mechanisms are essential to understanding connective professionalism.

Purpose This paper aims to present the results from a case study that investigated interorganizational learning in a buyer and seller relationship in the context of the maritime industry. This examination emphasized unraveling how the buyer and seller in the case study interacted and transferred knowledge when using a new business model that relied on servitization. Furthermore, this paper also addresses and discusses work practices, and the relationship between intra- and interorganizational learning. Design/methodology/approach A case study entailing the introduction of digital technology and a new business model into the maritime industry was used as an empirical example of interorganizational learning. The case study was conducted over a period of over one year and focused on a buyer of freight ships and a seller of servitized technology used on the ships. The organizations involved were the ships, the shipowner’s office and the ship engine supplier. The primary data acquisition methods comprised semi-structured interviews and observations. Findings The case identified interorganizational learning within the organizations at the individual, group and organizational levels, but only a few learning signs could be viewed as bidirectional interorganizational learning that can create knowledge and competitive advantages for the organizations. This is explained by the interorganizational learning context and the organizations’ motivation for learning at a strategic level. Originality/value This paper addresses an identified need for empirical studies on how interorganizational learning unfolds within organizations and connects to intraorganizational learning. Interorganizational learning studies often examine partnerships and joint ventures, in which partners have entered into these relationships with learning as a specific goal. By choosing a case in which interorganizational collaboration is anchored in operational matters, the study demonstrates the importance of motivation and agenda when entering into partnerships, concerning how inter- and intraorganizational learning develops within organizations. Furthermore, approaching these levels from an interrelated and practice-oriented perspective challenges established success criteria for interorganizational learning.