The Temporal Transition of Team Exploratory and Exploitative Learning

Abstract

This study investigated exploratory and exploitative actions, an organizational learning theory, and conceptualized it at the level of the team. Results indicated that teams tend to pursue both exploratory and exploitative actions simultaneously and exponentially over time, however these learning behaviours were not related to subsequent performance. Additionally, team goal orientations were found to be differentially related to each of the learning behaviours. Supplemental analyses revealed that intra-team relationship conflict had a moderating effect on the degree to which teams engaged in exploratory learning over time. Furthermore, task conflict measured at the project midpoint, predicted earlier initial levels of team exploratory and exploitative learning behaviours. The findings contribute to the growing body of research on team learning, and offer unique insight into how learning behaviour unfolds over time and the factors which impact these behaviours in teams.