Do Learning-Oriented Organizations Develop More Competitive Products? A Project-Level Exploration

New product development has been viewed by some scholars as a process of organizational learning comprehending the acquisition, dissemination, and utilization of information (Day 1994; Moorman 1995; Moorman and Miner 1997). New product development is based on discovery and creation processes, or generative learning (Moorman and Miner 1997) which is an outcome of a learning orientation (Baker and Sinkula 1999). In spite of its importance, the concept of a learning orientation has not been explored sufficiently in the new product development (NPD) context. This study aims to fill this void in the literature by theoretically exploring the link between organizational learning orientation and new product competitive advantage and the mediating effects of memory level and memory dispersion on this link at the NPD project level. The suggested research model was based on six hypotheses. According to the proposed model, learning-oriented organizations create strong organizational memories that lead to higher levels of new product competitive advantage.