Discovering The Neglected Piece in Technological Learning Processes: A Metaphorical Approach

Document Type : Research paper

Author

Assistant Professor in Science and Technology Policy, National Research Institute for Science Policy (NRISP), Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Technological learning, as one of the fundamental pillars of technological development and a necessary element for enhancing firms’ competitive capabilities, plays a decisive role in the trajectory of economic growth, particularly in developing countries. Despite the extensive body of research in this field, the dominant focus of existing studies has been on the outcomes and consequences of technological learning, while comparatively less attention has been devoted to examining technological learning processes within firms. Given that these processes significantly shape how firms utilize diverse resources and navigate their technological trajectories, this study seeks to further clarify the role of these processes in firms’ advancement and to identify neglected aspects within them. By moving beyond an outcome-oriented perspective, this research redirects attention toward the internal analysis of these processes, thereby offering a more comprehensive understanding of the dynamics of technological learning at the firm level.
Recognizing metaphorization as a powerful strategy for illuminating complex, ambiguous, or insufficiently transparent phenomena, this study adopts a metaphorical approach based on a four-stage algorithm to examine technological learning processes through the lens of the brain’s learning styles. This metaphorical framework provides a conceptual basis for uncovering latent relationships among technological learning processes.
The findings reveal meaningful correspondences between the brain’s learning styles and technological learning processes. Furthermore, drawing upon the interconnections among brain learning styles, this study identifies interrelationships among technological learning processes as much as possible—an aspect that has received limited attention in prior research and was facilitated by the metaphorical approach employed. The results indicate that, just as visual learning is recognized as the most dominant and influential learning style, reinforcing other learning styles, learning by searching, as the technological learning process corresponding to this style, occupies a central position and influences other technological learning processes, including learning by doing, learning by using, learning by interacting, learning from spillovers, and learning from advances in science and technology. In addition, a reciprocal relationship was identified between learning by doing and learning by using, alongside synergistic relationships among learning by searching, learning by interacting, and learning from spillovers.
Another major contribution of this research is the identification of a neglected aspect in technological learning processes corresponding to olfactory learning, conceptualized here as “experiential and intuitive learning.” Olfactory learning in the brain operates through mechanisms distinct from other learning styles, relying on rapid and complex responses to environmental cues as well as accumulated memories and prior experiences. Similarly, in many firms, particularly at strategic levels, CEOs interpret subtle environmental signals and combine them with past experiences, intuition, and rational analysis to recognize technological opportunities and threats. This process plays a decisive role under conditions of high uncertainty, environmental complexity, and emerging windows of opportunity. Firms do not respond uniformly to such windows; part of this variation stems from differences in the timely recognition and interpretation of emerging opportunities. In such contexts, the capacity—especially at the senior management level—to integrate logical reasoning with intuitive insight can be pivotal in reshaping a firm’s strategic position. Accordingly, experiential and intuitive learning is identified as a missing piece in the technological learning literature, complementing previously established categorizations of technological learning processes.
These findings not only deepen the theoretical understanding of the dynamics of technological learning but also carry important policy implications. Formulating policies aimed at strengthening learning by searching and its related activities (mainly R&D activities), designing mechanisms to cultivate managers’ intuitive capabilities, and establishing flexible and decentralized organizational structures that enable experiential and intuitive learning are among the key policy recommendations derived from this study.
In conclusion, this study demonstrates that metaphorical approaches can open new avenues for analyzing complex or ambiguous phenomena in technology studies. By linking the technological learning literature with insights from other scientific domains—particularly neuroscience—it provides a richer and more multilayered understanding of the phenomena under investigation. Although some scientific fields, including neuroscience, remain dynamic and continue to evolve, they can nonetheless offer valuable inspiration for interpreting phenomena in other domains. Moreover, such an approach creates opportunities for reexamining dominant assumptions and established frameworks, allowing concepts to be analyzed from new perspectives. In the present study, the adoption of a metaphorical lens enabled a reconsideration of technological learning processes from a fresh analytical perspective and ultimately facilitated the identification of a previously neglected piece in this field.

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References

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