Identification of Effective Key Factors on Organizational Unlearning: A Grounded Theory

The present study aims to develop a practical model for identifying effective key factors on unlearning of the North Khorasan province farmers in order to replace the traditional irrigation system with modern irrigation system. The study is based on grounded theory and theoretical sampling, 17 interviews were done with the farmers and experts of the Department of Education of Agriculture Jihad Organization until reaching theoretical saturation. Analyses carried out through continuous comparison showed 300 codes, 42 concepts and 6 categories in actual and theoretical coding process, which led to emergence of a final model focused on the core category, called organisational memory recovery. In conclusion, this study presents effective variables on unlearning about agricultural activities, particularly replacement of traditional irrigation methods with modern methods for optimal utilisation of water resources in the form of a model with an emergent approach. This study develops the first native model of organisational unlearning.