Learning-by-Moving: Can Reconfiguring Spatial Proximity Between Organizational Members Promote Individual-level Exploration?

Sunkee Lee ()
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Sunkee Lee: Tepper School of Business, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213

Organization Science, 2019, vol. 30, issue 3, 467-488

Abstract: This research proposes that individual-level exploration can be promoted by reconfiguring the spatial proximity between organizational members’ workspaces. To test this idea, I exploit a natural experiment in an e-commerce company where the spatial distances between organizational members’ workspaces were reconfigured. Consistent with the theory I develop on learning, results suggest that individuals whose workspaces were moved closer to those of previously separated peers engaged in more individual-level exploration. This pattern was stronger for individuals who had higher prior organizational experience and those who did not have ties with previously separated peers. Finally, I found that the relocated individuals also achieved higher financial performance. Overall, this study highlights the importance of an underexamined organization design element—spatial design—and its implications for organizational learning, individual-level exploration, and firm performance.

Keywords: organization design; organizational learning; spatial design; spatial proximity; seating arrangements; individual-level exploration; microfoundations of strategy; natural experiment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (13)

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