THE LEARNING CURVE: HISTORICAL REVIEW AND COMPREHENSIVE SURVEY

TLDR

The learning curve has attracted growing interest, expanding beyond traditional domains, though prior surveys were limited to military applications during and after World War II. This paper provides the first comprehensive survey of learning‑curve literature from World War II to the present, highlighting recent advances and future research directions. The authors review and synthesize learning‑curve studies spanning World War II to the present, focusing on developments since Asher’s 1956 work.

Abstract

ABSTRACT The use of the learning curve has been receiving increasing attention in recent years. Much of this increase has been due to learning curve applications other than in the traditional learning curve areas. A comprehensive survey of developments in the learning curve area has never been published. The closest thing to a survey was by Asher in 1956. His study focused exclusively on military applications during and immediately after World War II. This paper summarizes the learning curve literature from World War II to the present, emphasizing developments since the study by Asher. Particular emphasis is given to identifying the new directions into which the learning curve has made recent inroads and identifying fruitful areas for future research.