Vicarious Learning

Academy of Management Review 1981. Vol. 6, No. 1. 105-113.

Vicarious Learning: The Influence of Modeling on Organizational Behavior
CHARLES C. MANZ Auburn University HENRY P. SIMS, JR. Pennsylvania State University
The social learning theory notion of vicarious learning through modeling can elucidate the phenomenon of behavioral change in organizations. Vicarious learning encompasses attentional, retention, motor reproduction, and motivational processes. If any of these processes is lacking or impaired, the learner is less likely to perform an observed behavior. Whether or not a model is attractive, competent, and successful contributes to the overall probability of that model 's behavior being imitated by others. Managers need to use modeling effectively to enhance the achievement of organizational and personal goals. In particular, attention should be given to day-to-day modeling as well as to formal training to effect organizational behavior changes. Individual behavior in organizations has been attributed to many different causes. Among the more widely recognized perspectives on human work behavior is the notion of learning, which has been defined as a relatively permanent change in behavior [Kazdin, 1975]. The recognition of learning processes as an important influence on work behavior has indeed expanded the perspectives of the field of organizational behavior. Our purpose in this paper is to further expand the perspectives of organizational behavior through the examination of the modeling process as one type of learning [Bandura, 1969, 1977a]. Recently, considerable emphasis has been placed on the ideas represented by the term "behavior modification," or, more specifically, "operant theory." The essence of operant theory as applied to organizations is that work behavior is a function of its consequences [Luthans & Kreitner, 1975]. To put it simply, individuals will tend to increase the frequency of behavior that has resulted in positive consequences,

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