Re-theorizing External Learning: Insights from Economic and Industrial Espionage
通过分析经济和工业间谍活动的证据，挑战了组织学习必须是合法活动的规范性假设，提出了一个包含非法学习形式的外部学习模型，为管理学者重新思考知识获取的伦理边界提供了新视角。
This article develops our understanding of external learning by drawing upon evidence of economic and industrial espionage. We draw attention to the normative assumption of authors in the field that organizational learning is necessarily an entirely legitimate activity. We demonstrate that contemporary debate could benefit from research exploring illegal forms of learning. Three vignettes capturing different aspects of economic and industrial espionage are presented to illustrate the limitations of our current conceptualizations of external learning and its ethical dimensions, and to provide a basis for a re-theorization. The article concludes with the presentation of an indicative model of external learning and some suggestions for a revised research agenda.