Although many studies have found a positive relationship between learning orientation and performance, there is still a debate in the learning literature that learning-oriented behaviours may be inefficient or even dysfunctional under certain circumstances (Bunderson and Sutcliffe, 2003, March, 1991) when learning without assurance of results can be time-consuming and negatively influence performance (March, 1991). The learning literature shows that whether learning orientation, of any level, can improve or restrain performance depends on different contexts, suggesting the look for a moderator for this relationship. Furthermore, it can be seen from the literature of learning orientation that all of studies up to now have examined learning orientation only at a single level, individual-level or organization-level. This shows an important lack of literature, given the multilevel nature of learning when individuals act as learning agents for organizations and organizations create environments for learning of individuals (Argyris and Schön, 1978). Therefore, this study is among the first to investigate the effect of learning orientation on performance in the sales management context at two levels: salesperson-level and sales team-level. The next contribution of this study to the literature is the argument of the double-edged effects of team-level social capital moderating the link between learning orientation and performance. Very few studies have discussed the dark side of social capital, (Villena et al., 2011) although the dark side of social capital has been warned in studies of sociology (Granovetter, 1985), strategy (Adler and Kwon, 2002). This study extends the literature by investigating the curvilinear moderating role of social capital on the relationship between learning orientation and performance.

• Huy Nguyen(University of Sussex, UK)
• Ngoc Luu(University of Sussex, UK)