Introduction : Recently, companies have acknowledged organizational forgetting as a tool for optimizing organizational performance. The purpose of this research was to investigate the relationships among intentional organizational forgetting, organizational learning, knowledge management capability and organizational performance.

  Methods : In this survey, data collection was done by means of a questionnaire. The population included managers, vice-chancellors and supervisors of public and private hospitals in Mashhad. The evaluation of the model was performed by applying confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling. LIESREL software was employed for data analysis.

  Results : The results showed that intentional organizational forgetting and organizational learning had significant impact on organizational performance through enhancing knowledge management. Factor analysis showed a significant relationship between indicators and factors (p< 0.001). The results also revealed that organizational performance was mostly affected by the standard parameter, some indicators such as ignoring current knowledge, and replacing it with new knowledge from the very beginning using formal mechanisms for sharing experiences, applying appropriate processes to acquire new knowledge, and job satisfaction.

  Discussion: Research findings suggest that managers should enhance the knowledge management capacity to improve their organizational performance which could be achieved when learning processes are accomplished through intentional organizational forgetting.