| This dissertation focuses on impediments to organizational learning. Specifically, I use data from more than 2,600 newly chartered U.S. commercial banks over a 15-year period to assess whether protection, as embodied in government regulation, can impede learning. Results suggest that protection may increase survival-enhancing learning in the short run, but decrease survival-enhancing learning in the long run by limiting both opportunities and incentives for learning. As a consequence, the high relative survival rates of the most protected organizations are reversed once the period of protection ceases. This dissertation has managerial implications, as well as important theoretical implications for the learning literature. |
