In management literature there are lots of articles that study the role of organizational learning in knowledge management. However the majority of them focus on types of learning styles that the source of knowledge is internal and the subject of learning is an exploration. In this paper, the influence of learning capability on knowledge acquisition in situations where the source of knowledge is external and the subject of learning is imitation-based is analyzed. To achieve this aim, using multi case study methodology, several large Iranian Oil & Gas projects that have succeeded or failed in knowledge acquisition are studied. Through this research we find that in imitation based situation, three latent variables such as management commitment, openness, and knowledge sharing, form the required learning capability. Furthermore, we find that while the purpose of learning is imitation based, single loop learning dominates the learning process.