An Advantage of Newness: Vicarious Learning Despite Limited Absorptive Capacity
Summary. New firms entering markets typically lack the knowledge and capabilities of established competitors, but they can overcome this disadvantage through vicarious learning from incumbents. This study shows that new entrants actually learn more effectively from external knowledge during their own experiential learning processes than established firms do. Using data from U.S. commercial banking, the researchers find that entrants gain twice as much vicarious learning relative to their experiential learning compared to incumbents, suggesting newness creates a learning advantage rather than just a liability.
Cite this article
Posen, H. E., & Chen, J. S.. (2013). An Advantage of Newness: Vicarious Learning Despite Limited Absorptive Capacity. Organization Science. https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.1120.0815
Posen, Hart E., and John S. Chen. “An Advantage of Newness: Vicarious Learning Despite Limited Absorptive Capacity.” Organization Science, 2013. https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.1120.0815.
Posen, Hart E., and John S. Chen. 2013. “An Advantage of Newness: Vicarious Learning Despite Limited Absorptive Capacity.” Organization Science. https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.1120.0815.
@article{posen-2013-advantage-newness-vicarious-learning-despite,
title = {An Advantage of Newness: Vicarious Learning Despite Limited Absorptive Capacity},
author = {Hart E. Posen and John S. Chen},
journal = {Organization Science},
year = {2013},
doi = {10.1287/orsc.1120.0815},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.1120.0815}
}
TY - JOUR TI - An Advantage of Newness: Vicarious Learning Despite Limited Absorptive Capacity AU - Hart E. Posen AU - John S. Chen JO - Organization Science PY - 2013 DO - 10.1287/orsc.1120.0815 UR - https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.1120.0815 ER -
Details
- DOI
- 10.1287/orsc.1120.0815
- Countries
- United States
- Regions
- North America
- Categories
- innovation-theory, innovation-networks, general-innovation
- Added
- 2026-04-28