Analytics In Learning : From Consumer Learning to Organizational Learning

Abstract

This dissertation revolves around the theme of learning. In essay one, we first ask an interesting question: what has been recalled by a consumer when making a brand choice. Is it a previously formed overall impression toward the brand or a vivid visualization of certain consumption episodes? A large body of literature in cognitive research has established the existence of both semantic and episodic memory, where semantic memory stores general knowledge and episodic memory stores context specific personally experienced events. In the former learning model, a consumer is assumed to make brand choices through recall from semantic memory alone. In this paper, we attempt to propose a structural model with Bayesian learning that allows recall from both semantic and episodic memory. We attempt to empirically test the effect of idiosyncratic traits as well as situational factors triggering the type of memory recalled. We calibrate the proposed model with scanner panel data from the laundry detergent category. It is found that consumers are more likely to use past consumption experiences to form a new evaluation at the point of purchase, compared with recalling an existing belief from semantic memory.

In essay 2, we study a firm?s fundamental learning capability called absorptive capacity that enables a firm to be adaptively innovative and structurally flexible. Absorptive capacity is a construct that is widely applied but poorly measured in the organizational learning literature. In this research, we propose a 3-step structural model to unpack absorptive capacity into three dimensions while recognizing the sequential relationship between each dimension. With our model, it is possible to use widely available alliance data to test empirically various theories about absorptive capacity. The model sheds light on the relative importance of each dimension in determining a firm?s absorptive capacity. It also gives implications to firms on how they can develop absorptive capacity through forming their alliance portfolio in an optimal way