Turnover-induced Forgetting and its Impact on Productivity

• Published in: British journal of management Vol. 24; no. 1; pp. 38 - 53
• Main Authors: López, Luis, Sune, Albert
• Format: Journal Article Publication
• Language: English
• Published: London Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.03.2013; Wiley InterScience
• Subjects: Economia i organització d'empreses; Employee turnover; Gestió del coneixement; Gestió i direcció; Human capital; Knowledge management; Labor productivity; Organizational behavior; Productivitat laboral; Productivity; Recursos humans; Studies; Àrees temàtiques de la UPC
• ISSN: 1045-3172; 1467-8551; 1467-8551
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-8551.2011.00785.x

In this paper we investigate organizational forgetting, the notion that a firm's knowledge does not persist over time, exploring knowledge depreciation caused by changes in human capital. We first conduct an in‐depth exploratory case study to identify organizational forgetting. The empirical evidence suggests that organizational forgetting occurs when abrupt personnel turnover takes place. The data reveal a forgetting pattern that is entirely episodic in nature. Thereupon we conduct a confirmatory piece, using multiple regression models, to measure the impact of organizational forgetting on overall productivity. We find that, as a result of repeated forgetting processes, productivity falls in spite of continued output accumulation because of changes in the characteristics of the resource where experience resides.