Navigating the knowledge paradox: Why having some answers can be worse than having none

Chess is a strategic game characterized by temporal complexity—wherein the goodness of a move is unclear due to a separation between action and outcome. Likewise, many organizational decisions do not yield instant consequences, leading to temporally complex problems. Decision makers tackle such challenges through internal as well as external information. Unfortunately, while many strategic and organizational decisions are expected to have longer-term consequences, existing behavioral models of learning have barely explored hard or complex problems so far.

In an innovative study, an international team of researchers, including Professor Ji-hyun Kim from Yonsei University, South Korea; Professor Christina Fang from NYU Stern, USA; and Assistant Professor Hisan Yang from Louisiana State University, USA, have computationally explored the role of external knowledge in tackling temporally complex problems.

Their findings were published online in Articles in Advance section of the journal Organization Science on 10 April 2025.

According to Prof. Kim, “Our key point is the counterintuitive finding that limited external knowledge can actually impair performance more than having no external knowledge at all in temporally complex problem-solving environments.”

This study demonstrates that while a high level of external knowledge, such as rules, templates, or guidance from outside the organization, generally improves performance, its benefits are nonmonotonic. When external knowledge is incomplete or only available for a subset of possible states or actions, it creates "interim attractors"—subgoals that decision makers learn to value. As a result, agents may overvalue actions that lead to these subgoals—states with external knowledge—rather than those that more directly advance toward the ultimate goal. This effect is especially pronounced in environments where feedback is delayed and actions have long-term consequences owing to temporal complexity, as is common in strategic and organizational decision-making.

“The BlackBerry Storm case by Research in Motion (RIM) highlights a scenario where external knowledge on the need for a touchscreen smartphone was correctly identified, but its application—combined with limited internal experience—led to a flawed product and market failure. In our paper, we further discuss how Merck, Sanofi, and GSK relied on their existing external knowledge on vaccine platforms for COVID-19, but these approaches turned out to be dead ends, causing them to abandon their vaccine efforts despite prior success with other viruses,” highlights Prof. Kim.

In light of these and many more such examples, the present findings are expected to have numerous real-life applications in the areas of drug development processes in pharmaceutical firms, strategic decision-making in technology companies, vaccine development in response to health crises, and organizational learning and adaptation.

In this way, this work on learning in temporally complex problems and the interplay between external and internal knowledge has significant and far-reaching implications for organizations, individuals, and society over the next five to ten years. These include better management of complex projects and improved innovation and performance in the domain of organizational decision-making and strategy, curriculum design and lifelong learning culture in the field of education and training, policy implementation and healthcare innovation in regard to public policy and healthcare, digital transformation and AI and decision support systems in the field of technology and AI integration, as well as career resilience and innovation and entrepreneurship with respect to individual career development.

Overall, this research suggests that the most effective learning and decision-making in complex, long-term environments comes from balancing external knowledge with internal experiential learning.

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Reference
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2022.16469  
 

About Yonsei University
Yonsei University, located in Seoul, South Korea, is one of the nation’s oldest and most prestigious private research institutions. Founded in 1885, the university is renowned for academic excellence and its strong commitment to international collaborations and partnerships. Yonsei offers diverse programs across the humanities, sciences, engineering, business, and more, serving approximately 30,000 students with a distinguished faculty. Yonsei remains dedicated to fostering creativity and cultural exchange in a rapidly evolving world.
https://www.yonsei.ac.kr/en_sc/

About Professor Ji-hyun Kim
Ji-hyun Kim is a Professor at Yonsei University, School of Business. He earned his PhD from the Stern School of Business at New York University. His research interests lie in the areas of Complexity, Fit and Firm Performance, Exploration–Exploitation in Organizational Learning, and Machine Learning Approaches. His research explores the intricate dynamics of organizational learning and performance, leveraging machine learning methodologies to gain deeper insights into those complex phenomena. His research has been published in renowned international journals, including Strategic Management Journal, Industrial and Corporate Change, and Technological Forecasting & Social Change.

About Professor Christina Fang
Professor Christina Fang is a Distinguished Faculty Member in Management and Organizations at NYU Stern. She earned her Ph.D. in Strategic Management from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. Her research primarily delves into the complexities of organizational learning, strategic decision-making, and technological innovation. Specifically, she examines causal attributions of performance, novelty in innovations, and learning without immediate feedback. Prof. Fang has made significant contributions to the field, with her influential work published in top-tier journals such as Strategic Management Journal, Management Science, and Organization Science.

About Assistant Professor Hisan Yang
Hisan Yang is an Assistant Professor of strategy at the E. J. Ourso College of Business, Louisiana State University (as of August 2025). He received his PhD from the David Eccles School of Business at the University of Utah. His research interests lie in various tradeoffs organizations face in managing complex problems.