Organizing for inter-organizational learning in service networks

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this study is to consolidate existing research on ‘service networks’ and to frame this literature as a new ‘context for learning’. Research from inter-organizational learning is used to qualify this consolidation and advances from inter-organizational learning are used to operationalize how service network actors in this new context can organize for inter-organizational learning to create more value for themselves and their customers. Design/methodology/approach By conceptualizing the learning context of a service network and the interrelated dimensions, an overview of the learning challenges for improved service performance is provided. Findings Inspired by the service triangle, the proposed framework highlights the learning challenges among two or more actors and the knowledge and skills needed for them to organize the service network. To build a collaboration characterized by trust, behaviors associated with transparency and receptivity are argued to be imperative. Practical implications The framework can increase the opportunities for inter-organizational learning in a service network. Knowing the learning context and the challenges associated with this learning allows for a more accurate intervention and allocation of resources to improve service network performance. Originality/value The novelty lies in the consolidation of the literature of service networks and the extension of the literature on inter-organizational learning hereto.

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

“…An additional factor could be that there is a time lag in the economic effects of COVID-19 (Kuckertz et al, 2020;Smallbone et al, 2012), and responses by entrepreneurial ventures may not have fully been enacted yet. Therefore, further studies of IOL in later phases of COVID-19 and its aftermath would be interesting, recalling that the close relationship between carrying out interactive activities and IOL in the literature (Anand et al, 2020;Brix, 2019;Janowicz-Panjaitan and Noorderhaven, 2008;Peronard and Brix, 2019) is empirically supported by the present paper.…”

“…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.…”

“…Wu et al (2020) found that the effect of social networks in business incubators was stronger in situations of dynamism and uncertainty, both of which a crisis represents. Hence, crises can perhaps motivate, or even force, organizations to choose to open up and be receptive to learning from and with other organizations (Peronard and Brix, 2019); this leads to the first hypothesis:…”

“…The literature on IOL pinpoints how activities and interactions, such as active responses to crisis, within and between organizations are essential for IOL to occur (Brix, 2019;Peronard and Brix, 2019) and for action and learning in entrepreneurial ventures generally (Haneberg, 2019;Lefebvre et al, 2015). Thus, a second hypothesis is formulated:…”

Interorganizational learning: a bibliometric review and research agenda

“…They find that competitors have the best possibilities of engaging in IOL R&D, however, their research also identifies that issues of trust are of high importance. The importance of trust and other relational capabilities is increasingly explicated in IOL research (Peronard and Brix, 2019;Leung et al 2019), however, the concept of co-opetition in IOL (e.g. Fredrich et al 2019) is still novel in the field.…”