Conceptualizing Organizational Forgetting in a Crisis Context

ABSTRACT This conceptual article aims to promote research on organizational forgetting in the context of crises. Organizations do not only learn but they also forget: they lose previously acquired knowledge and practices over time. In contrast to a multitude of studies on organizational learning, the concept of organizational forgetting has been underdeveloped in the literature. Yet, organizational forgetting is equally important: what is the point of learning if lessons learned are quickly forgotten? In this article, we integrate organizational forgetting into theory on learning from crises. Studying the concept in a crisis context is particularly relevant, as lessons need to be retained over long periods and the consequences of memory loss can be severe. We provide a conceptualization of organizational forgetting and its critical and structural form: organizational amnesia. We explain how integrating forgetting in a crisis context results in a shift from a cumulative perspective to a cyclical perspective on learning over time, present an analytical framework for studying organizational forgetting in a crisis context, and identify six explanations for why it occurs.