Searching wide or staying close: the relative use of distinct organisational learning types in high and low novelty innovations

Despite the acknowledged importance of organisational learning for new product development, there is a dearth of research into the relative use of distinct learning types as the innovation process unfolds. Our paper more fully engages with this issue, contrasting innovations of high versus low technological novelty. A qualitative study of innovation projects in the biopharmaceutical and medical device industries reveals that learning patterns vary in significant ways throughout the innovation process based on the underlying technological novelty of the offering. High novelty projects begin with an emphasis on vicarious learning from distant referents and shift to more internal experiential learning over time. Meanwhile, low novelty projects begin with experiential learning, pursue vicarious learning from proximate (industry peer) referents, and finish by returning to internal experience. We theorise a more general sequence of learning types throughout the innovation process based on our findings.