Open research questions in Organizational Learning and Leadership

What the literature leaves open

• While both elements are recognized separately for their benefits, the joint impact of ILD and line managers' involvement (LMI) on overall company performance (CP), including productivity, innovation, and environmental effects, has not been extensively studied at the organizational level.

  Coaching and Mentoring as a Tool for Individualisation in Employee Learning and Development and Their Impact on Business Performance: The Mediating Role of Line Managers' Involvement in HR Processes Observed in Medium and Large Enterprises · 2026 · DOI

• The findings adopt an exploratory, predictive perspective by identifying factors associated with organisational innovativeness; accordingly, the study does not claim causal effects. The scope is limited to variables available in TALIS 2018 and to participating education systems, which provides rare cross-system coverage but also constrains contextual sensitivity. The machine learning models capture statisti- cal regularities that hold on average in the pooled international sample; however, they cannot explain how the meaning and salience of “innovation” may vary across systems with distinct histories, policies, and sociocultural norms. A key limitation concerns cross-national measurement invariance of the dependent variable: because only configural invariance was supported (and stronger forms such as metric/scalar invariance were not established), the identified associations should be interpreted as pooled-sample patterns rather than effects that operate identically across countries. Under these conditions, the use of a pooled prediction model raises the possibil- ity that the algorithm may partially capture country-specific measurement artefacts or response styles, in addition to substantive relationships between predictors and the outcome. Consequently, predictors identified as important in the pooled model Journal of Educational Change (2026) 27:149–1801 3 173 should not be interpreted as evidence of invariant effects operating uniformly across countries. Rather, these findings indicate variables that are salient within the pooled international sample, with the explicit recognition that the nature, strength, and func- tional form of these associations may vary across national contexts. Future research should replicate these analyses via country-specific models or multigroup approaches under stronger measurement invariance conditions to assess the robustness and con- textual specificity of the identified predictors. In addition, all the measures rely on principals’ self-reports, increasing the risk of single-source bias and common method variance, which may inflate associations. Finally, prioritizing malleable school pro- cess variables necessarily deemphasizes structural contextual factors (e.g., socio- economic composition) that shape inequality and may help identify systematically underresourced schools; future work could integrate such indicators as controls, moderators, or complementary risk markers and examine country-specific models to assess contextual variation.

  A machine learning analysis of school-level drivers of organisational innovativeness · 2026 · DOI

• However, the underlying assumptions upon which such a system is based are often overlooked, and the workplace as a learning site is generally under-investigated, which may cause an unreflected LDS.

  A path to a deliberate leadership development system: uncovering social representations to facilitate work-integrated learning · 2025 · DOI

• Given the criticality of providing strategic leadership for learning and, more specifically, the consistent associations between leaders who mentor and coach and work-related performance outcomes, a better understanding of the associations between the learning organization concept and managerial coaching is warranted.

  Providing strategic leadership for learning: optimizing managerial coaching to build learning organizations · 2020 · DOI

• The five articles collected in this special issue build on current scholarship to examine under-explored facets of policy learning that improve or degrade its transferability, including career portability, multi-level collaboration, regional leadership, crisis learning, vicarious learning and single-case learning, aided by abduction and phronesis.

  Approaches to Transferable Learning in Comparative Policy Analysis and Practice · 2017 · DOI

• Research limitations/implications The research study was limited to a particular group of middle managers, MBA student‐managers and recent graduates and ways of extending the research are suggested.

  Role modelling in manager development: learning that which cannot be taught · 2011 · DOI

• Findings The main points in which Semantic Web technology can be applied to learning in organizations are identified, and ontological accounts of organizational earning behaviour are pointed out as the main open question to develop the concept of a SLO.

  The semantic learning organization · 2005 · DOI

• However, there is a gap in the literature, which concerns (1) the practicalities of actually designing and implementing a program, (2) the reasons for success and (3) the core values underpinning ALAR.

  A generic model for action learning and action research programs within organizations · 2000

• While it is argued that HRD practitioners need to acquire some of the skills of OD consultants, these are likely to be limited to the development of personal skills and learning in the attempt to achieve intrapreneurialism and personal transformations.

  Living in the shadow of OD: HRD and the search for identity · 1999 · DOI

• Interpreting the reports of studies is hampered by the lack of data on the implementation of the plans under comparison. The virtual lack of data on level of implementation of the plans in published reports makes this assumption highly likely. Self-direction in IPI and PLAN is, however, limited by the high structure built into learning units and sequences.

  Overview of innovations in organization for learning · 1972 · DOI

• Thompson (1967) suggests, however, t h a t Conflict and Cooperation p r o b a b l y are most related to structural relationships within the company and to interde- pendencies which exist, variables which are not necessarily related to size and which were not investigated here.

  The conditioning influence of organization size upon managerial practice · 1972 · DOI

• With this interdisciplinary contribution, trainings and work-based learning scenarios can be initiated to unlock the potential of learners that has been blocked due to previously under-researched barriers to learning.

  Using a non-recursive model with feedback loops to identify barriers to learning as a dynamic construct in workplace learning · 2026 · DOI

• The future research may explore the longitudinal effects and extend the study towards other sectors for comparative analysis in order to compare the diverse outcome and contribute the knowledge from different dimensions.

  THE INFLUENCE OF TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP ON WORKPLACE DIVERSITY: ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE AS MEDIATOR · 2026 · DOI

• Therefore, future research should consider adopting a longitudi- nal design to collect data across multiple time points, tracing the trajec- tory of learning organization practices over time.

  The relationship between learning organization system on innovation performance: testing moderated mediation role of organizational cultural identification · 2026 · DOI

• This paper explains how action learning and critical incident technique combined in this program to enhance individual, team and organizational learning, and argues that the synergies between these three processes should be explored in other contexts.

  Critical incident technique and action learning to enable organizational learning · 2023 · DOI

• EBM use is nevertheless marginal among managers, and little is known about the enablers that can facilitate and effectively increase its use.

  Evidence collection and use when making management decisions · 2023 · DOI

• Based on the findings, it would be premature to say with certainty that leadership causally influences learning, since the empirical basis for such a claim is lacking.

  Leadership and Learning at Work: A Systematic Literature Review of Learning-oriented Leadership · 2022 · DOI

• Even though these standards have contributed significantly to the formalization of the company's knowledge, little is known about the consequences of implementing this framework in terms of organizational changes and learning dynamics.

  Diagnosis of Organizational Change: A multi-level approach (Case study of a French SME certified ISO 9001) · 2019 · DOI

• The authors call for setting up an updated agenda for learning and reconstructing learning into the corporate world; not only this but the future research should focus on reviewing and evaluating what did the authors learn about learning and how can the authors further learn, unlearn and re-learn.

  The learning-driven organization: toward an integrative model for organizational learning · 2019 · DOI

• The literature suggests that learning takes place in organic and less-structured organizational designs, whereas empirical research provides conflicting evidence.

  Learning-structure fit part I · 2018 · DOI

• Originality/value This study applies the theory of espoused versus enacted values to learning from error using a triangulation of measures in an understudied research setting: auditing.

  Valuing errors for learning: espouse or enact? · 2017 · DOI

• Research limitations/implications – A key limitation of the research is inherent in the use of critical incident technique, as it provides information on the nature of “atypical events” as opposed to more gradual, tacit and typically ongoing learning at work.

  Reciprocal benefits, legacy and risk · 2016 · DOI

• Research limitations/implications – The generalization of findings is limited, as data are restricted to the southern and southeastern regions of Brazil, in municipalities in which mayors belong to a given political party.

  Individual and contextual variables in municipal officers' workplace learning · 2015 · DOI

• One of the substantive issues in current organizational values discourse is the lack of agreement around descriptors pertaining to the phenomenon; additionally, participants in the discussion frequently assume common understanding.

  A general model of organizational values in educational administration · 2013 · DOI

• Firm size and industry differences exist in perceptions of the effect of the skills gap on the organisation, the causes of the skills gap, the strategies used to address the skills gap, the types of skills which are lacking, and the management of training and development.

  Skills gaps in Australian firms · 2011 · DOI

Most-cited papers in Organizational Learning and Leadership

• The Importance of Collaborative Know-How: An Empirical Test of the Learning Organization · Academy of Management Journal · 1997 · 862 citations
• Management team learning orientation and business unit performance. · Journal of Applied Psychology · 2003 · 429 citations
• Building organizational resilience, innovation through resource-based management initiatives, organizational learning and environmental dynamism · Journal of Business Research · 2021 · 419 citations
• Organizational Learning Processes and Outcomes: Major Findings and Future Research Directions · Management Science · 2020 · 336 citations
• Vicarious Learning: The Influence of Modeling on Organizational Behavior · Academy of Management Review · 1981 · 336 citations
• A contextual theory of organizational learning from failures and successes: A study of acquisition completion in the global newspaper industry, 1981–2008 · Strategic Management Journal · 2012 · 235 citations
• Open innovation and sustainable competitive advantage: The role of organizational learning · Technological Forecasting and Social Change · 2022 · 187 citations
• Managerial coaching behaviors in learning organizations · Journal of Management Development · 1999 · 185 citations
• The State of Public Strategic Management Research: A Selective Literature Review and Set of Future Directions · The American Review of Public Administration · 2010 · 182 citations
• Organizational socialization · Journal of Managerial Psychology · 2006 · 178 citations

Most recent work

• Customer service excellence in banking: a learning framework integrating 3Cs and digital feedback · The Learning Organization · 2026
• Organisational learning structures favour knowledge transfer in succession planning · Journal of Workplace Learning · 2026
• Using a non-recursive model with feedback loops to identify barriers to learning as a dynamic construct in workplace learning · Vocations and Learning · 2026
• Learning stocks and flows: the role of transactional and transformational leadership · The Learning Organization · 2026
• Employee ownership as an institutional problem of adoption, diffusion, and learning · International Review of Applied Economics · 2026
• Moderating role of leadership effectiveness in learning–innovation relationship · International Journal of Public Leadership · 2026
• Leading the unseen: a systematic review of informal learning in knowledge work and workplace context · The Learning Organization · 2026
• Embedding action learning for strategic transformation: a reflective account of practice at Ping An Bank · Action Learning Research and Practice · 2026
• Unpacking the Black Box: How Occupational Subculture and Sensemaking Drive Strategic Learning Capability · Administrative Sciences · 2026
• Measuring learning support in SMEs · Human Resource Management International Digest · 2026

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