Beyond internal reflection: External environmental antecedents of triple-loop learning in higher education institutions

Abstract

Organizational learning in universities has traditionally been studied as an internally generated process, driven by leadership reflection, professional development and cultural renewal. This article argues that such an internal focus is incomplete, and that deeper forms of institutional learning are frequently activated by conditions originating outside the university. Drawing on triple-loop learning theory, open-systems thinking and the Burke–Litwin model of organizational performance and change, the study develops and tests a conceptual framework in which the external environment functions as an antecedent of triple-loop learning and its transformational, transactional and individual/personal dimensions. Using a cross-sectional, positivist survey design, data were collected from a stratified random sample of 168 university stakeholders (from a population of 1,683) using the 48-item Burke–Litwin Survey. Descriptive, correlational and regression analyses were used to examine the proposed relationships. The findings are discussed in relation to triple-loop learning theory, open-systems thinking and prior empirical research on organizational change in higher education. The article contributes a theoretically integrated account of triple-loop learning as an environmentally embedded, rather than purely internal, organizational process, and offers practical implications for how universities might use environmental scanning as a deliberate trigger for deeper institutional reflection.