A three-perspective approach to organizational learning culture: a systematic scoping review, conceptual clarification and extension, and an initial empirical investigation

Abstract

Learning is a central concern in contemporary organizations, but the cultural conditions that shape it are still conceptualized too narrowly. This paper challenges the prevailing view of organizational learning culture (OLC) as a unified and consensual construct, showing that this conventional understanding aligns primarily with an integration perspective on organizational culture. Building on Martin's three-perspective approach to organizational culture—integration, differentiation, and fragmentation—we extend OLC by arguing that learning-related meanings may be shared organization-wide, consolidated within subgroups, or remain ambiguous and situational. A systematic scoping review of 210 publications reveals that the field still lacks conceptual clarity. Most studies do not explicitly address their perspective, many either omit a clear definition of OLC or introduce idiosyncratic ones, frequently conflating OLC with related constructs such as the learning organization or organizational learning (OL). We therefore propose a conceptually clarified definition of OLC that distinguishes it from organizational learning and the learning organization while encompassing all three cultural perspectives. A mixed-method case study in a German bank illustrates substantial organization-wide agreement, modest but systematic cluster differences, and qualitative evidence of subgroup-specific as well as ambiguous and situation-dependent meanings. The three-perspective approach thereby provides theoretical, conceptual, and methodological contributions and encourages practitioners to examine coherence, subcultural variation, and ambiguity when fostering learning-oriented practices.