Learning orientation and competitive advantage: A critical synthesis and future directions

It is widely accepted that a strong learning orientation (LO) leverages organizations’ ability to achieve competitive advantage. It is also widely accepted that LO is correlated and works in conjunction with strategic orientations to accomplish this end. Yet, the nomological clarity of the relationships between LO and the key strategic orientations remains equivocal. In this paper, we take a step back to better understand the state of LO research, including its relationship with strategic orientations. As a part of this synthesis, we offer several criticisms of the LO literature that hinders its conceptual development as an initiator of capability enhancement, innovation, and performance. A key assertion is that LO is not a strategic orientation per se because it influences the quality of informational inputs into strategic planning, not their focus. That is, LO does not direct firms towards a particular strategic approach as do strategic orientations. Instead, as a dynamic capability it motivates firms to monitor and improve the quality of information used to operationalize all strategic orientations. As such, it improves the efficacy of whichever strategic orientation(s) firms choose to adopt.