Driven to Distraction: The Unintended Consequences of Organizational Learning from Failure Caused by Human Error.

This article examines how organizations learn from failures, focusing specifically on whether failures caused by human error influence learning outcomes differently than failures from other causes. Using data from natural gas pipeline accident reports filed with the U.S. Pipeline Hazardous Materials Safety Administration between 2002 and 2012, the study finds that failures attributed to human error receive disproportionately greater organizational attention, leading to a subsequent reduction in similar human error failures but an unintended increase in failures from other causes. In contrast, failures attributed to non-human causes attract less attention and produce weaker learning effects. These findings highlight the limited nature of organizational attention and suggest that learning from human error-related failures yields both benefits and unintended consequences, emphasizing the need for organizations to balance attentional focus across different failure types.