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Learning and Knowledge Depreciation in Professional Services

Mason School of Business, The College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia 23187
Mason School of Business, The College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia 23187
Department of Economics and Thomas Jefferson School of Public Policy, The College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia 23187
tonya.boone{at}mason.wm.edu
ram.ganeshan{at}mason.wm.edu
rob.hicks{at}wm.edu

Organizational knowledge is a critical source of competitive advantage for professional service firms. Learning from experience and sustaining past knowledge are critical to the success of such knowledge-driven firms. We use learning curve theory to evaluate learning and depreciation in professional services. Our results, based on seven years of project data collected from an architectural engineering (A/E) firm, show that (a) professional services exhibit learning curves, (b) there is virtually no depreciation of knowledge and, (c) the rate of learning accelerates with experience.

Key Words: learning; depreciation; professional services
History: Received: March 10, 2000;