Information Technology, Learning, and Sales Performance

Although organizations strive to improve performance of their employees by encouraging them to exploit what they have learnt (exploitative learning) and explore new knowledge (exploratory learning), scant research examines how organizations can enable employees with information technology (IT) to help them leverage exploitative and exploratory learning for improved employee performance. This study examines the role of employee-focused IT-enablement and customer-focused IT-enablement in helping employees leverage exploitative and exploratory learning to improve their performance. We theorize that employee-focused IT enablement positively moderates the effect of exploitative learning on employee performance, whereas customer-focused IT enablement positively moderates the effect of exploratory learning on employee performance. Empirical analysis of a multi-sourced matched-pair dataset gathered from 181 salespersons and their managers in a biotechnology medical devices company supports our theory. This study uncovers differential moderating effects of employee-focused and customer-focused IT enablement on the influence of exploitative and exploratory learning on individual employee performance