Title: Identification of effective key factors on organisational unlearning: a grounded theory

Authors: Mahdieh Amani; Ali Shirazi; Alireza Khorakian; Gholamreza Malekzadeh

Addresses: Department of Management, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran ' Department of Management, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran ' Department of Management, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran ' Department of Management, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran

Abstract: The present study aims to develop a practical model for identifying effective key factors on unlearning of the North Khorasan province farmers in order to replace the traditional irrigation system with modern irrigation system. The study is based on grounded theory and theoretical sampling, 17 interviews were done with the farmers and experts of the Department of Education of Agriculture Jihad Organization until reaching theoretical saturation. Analyses carried out through continuous comparison showed 300 codes, 42 concepts and 6 categories in actual and theoretical coding process, which led to emergence of a final model focused on the core category, called organisational memory recovery. In conclusion, this study presents effective variables on unlearning about agricultural activities, particularly replacement of traditional irrigation methods with modern methods for optimal utilisation of water resources in the form of a model with an emergent approach. This study develops the first native model of organisational unlearning.

Keywords: organisational unlearning; grounded theory; emergent approach.

DOI: 10.1504/IJLIC.2019.102651

International Journal of Learning and Intellectual Capital, 2019 Vol.16 No.4, pp.359 - 383

Received: 19 Apr 2018
Accepted: 17 Feb 2019
Published online: 30 Sep 2019 *

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