The Institutionalization of Organizational Learning: a Neoinstitutional Perspective

Crossan, Lane and White (1999) presented a model of organizational learning that includes intuiting, interpreting, integrating and institutionalizing processes. Organizational learning studies that have followed Crossan, Lane and White’s 1999 4I framework have explored and elaborated on the initial three processes of organizational learning. Theses studies however, have not fully elaborated on the processes of the institutionalization of organizational learning. The purpose of this study is to explore, identify and characterize the institutionalization processes that lead to the embedding of knowledge in the organizational memory. This paper discusses the theoretical framework and methodology of a doctoral research study that explores how a company institutionalized knowledge about implementing a sustainable development program.