Factors influencing Australian SMEs knowledge sharing online

The Web offers a powerful tool for knowledge-sharing among small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). Such online initiatives have, however, frequently been unsuccessful. This paper examines factors motivating SMEs to share knowledge online. It reports data from a telephone survey of 192 SME members of two successful regional business networks comprising members from diverse industries. Although the majority of SMEs actively used the Web in their daily business operations and most were willing to share knowledge face-to-face, this did not translate into willingness to share online. The most significant factors affecting the willingness to share knowledge online were the how many of networks SMEs were involved in, the number of years an SME had been in business, the geographical scope of their operations, and intensity of their use of the web. These findings challenge the commonly-held view that SMEs will automatically share online if the infrastructure is provided.

[1]  W. Neuman,et al.  Social Research Methods: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches , 2002 .

[2]  H. Saint‐Onge.  Tacit Knowledge: The Key to the Strategic Alignment of Intellectual Capital , 1996 .

[3]  T. A. Stewart.  Intellectual Capital: The New Wealth of Organizations , 1997 .

[4]  S. Ghoshal,et al.  Social Capital, Intellectual Capital, and the Organizational Advantage , 1998 .

[5]  Roberta Capello,et al.  Spatial Transfer of Knowledge in High Technology Milieux: Learning Versus Collective Learning Processes , 1999 .

[6]  Edward Lorenz,et al.  Collective Learning, Tacit Knowledge and Regional Innovative Capacity , 1999 .

[7]  Nick Bontis,et al.  Managing Organizational Knowledge by Diagnosing Intellectual Capital , 2000 .

[8]  Eileen Moore Trauth,et al.  The Culture of an Information Economy: Influences and Impacts in the Republic of Ireland , 2000 .

[9]  D. F. Radcliffe,et al.  The Tacit Nature of Design Knowledge , 2000 .

[10]  J. H. Frey,et al.  The Interview: From Structured Questions to Negotiated Text , 2000 .

[11]  Eileen M. Trauth,et al.  The Culture of an Information Economy , 2000 .

[12]  Rodney McAdam,et al.  SME and large organisation perceptions of knowledge management: comparisons and contrasts , 2001, J. Knowl. Manag..

[13]  Giuseppina Passiante,et al.  New sources of clustering in the digital economy , 2001 .

[14]  Harry Matlay,et al.  "Blanket" approaches to promoting ICT in small firms: some lessons from the DTI ladder adoption model in the UK , 2001, Internet Res..

[15]  Yanqing Duan,et al.  A pan-European survey leading to the development of WITS , 2001, Internet Res..

[16]  Ron Boschma,et al.  Knowledge, Market Structure, and Economic Coordination: Dynamics of Industrial Districts , 2002 .

[17]  James Simmie,et al.  Knowledge Spillovers and Reasons for the Concentration of Innovative SMEs , 2002 .

[18]  Shirley Gregor,et al.  A Theory of Theories in Information Systems , 2002 .

[19]  A. Heene,et al.  Social Networks as a Source of Competitive Advantage for the Firm. , 2003 .

[20]  Robert J. Bennett,et al.  Competitive conditions, competitive advantage and the location of SMEs , 2002 .

[21]  E. Wenger,et al.  Cultivating Communities of Practice: A Guide to Managing Knowledge , 2002 .

[22]  Mariano Corso,et al.  Knowledge management configurations in Italian small‐to‐medium enterprises , 2003 .

[23]  Kin-Fan Au,et al.  The process and consequences of supply chain virtualization , 2003, Ind. Manag. Data Syst..

[24]  Jianwen Liao,et al.  Organizational Absorptive Capacity and Responsiveness: An Empirical Investigation of Growth–Oriented SMEs , 2003 .

[25]  Nerys Fuller-Love,et al.  Networks in small manufacturing firms , 2004 .

[26]  Greg Hearn,et al.  ICTs and regional sustainability: A critique and a way forward , 2004 .

[27]  Chee-Chuong Sum,et al.  A Taxonomy of Operations Strategies of High Performing Small and Medium Enterprises in Singapore , 2004 .

[28]  Eric Yu,et al.  Information Systems (in the Internet Age) , 2004 .

[29]  N. Beaumont,et al.  The effect of electronic commerce on small Australian enterprises , 2004 .

[30]  David Doloreux,et al.  Regional networks of small and medium sized enterprises: evidence from the Metropolitan Area of Ottawa in Canada1 , 2004 .

[31]  Elaine Aspinwall,et al.  Characterizing knowledge management in the small business environment , 2004, J. Knowl. Manag..

[32]  Julie Fisher,et al.  Developing Business Community Portals for SMEs - Issues of Design, Development and Sustainability , 2005, Electron. Mark..

[33]  C. Roberts,et al.  Broadband technology: An appraisal of government policy and use by small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises , 2005 .

[34]  Sari Salojärvi,et al.  Knowledge management and growth in Finnish SMEs , 2005, J. Knowl. Manag..

[35]  J. McManus,et al.  The role of SMEs in improving the competitive position of the European Union , 2005 .

[36]  D. Doloreux,et al.  Regional innovation systems: Current discourse and unresolved issues , 2005 .

[37]  Craig Standing,et al.  Government-supported Community Portal Regional e-marketplaces for SMEs: Evidence to Support a Staged Approach , 2005, Electron. Mark..

[38]  R. MacGregor,et al.  The role of small business clusters in prioritising barriers to e-commerce adoption: a study of Swedish regional SMEs , 2005 .

[39]  J. Albors *,et al.  Transnational technology transfer networks for SMEs. A review of the state-of-the art and an analysis of the European IRC network , 2005 .

[40]  Laura Galloway,et al.  The use of ICT in rural firms: A policy-orientated literature review , 2005 .

[41]  R. Thorpe,et al.  Using Knowledge within Small and Medium-Sized Firms: A Systematic Review of the Evidence , 2005 .

[42]  P. Cooke,et al.  Social capital, firm embeddedness and regional development , 2005 .

[43]  Léo-Paul Dana,et al.  A cross‐national comparison of knowledge management practices , 2005 .

[44]  Fenio Annansingh,et al.  Knowledge management issues in knowledge-intensive SMEs , 2006, J. Documentation.

[45]  Philip Powell,et al.  Exploring Internet Adoption Drivers in SMEs , 2006, Electron. Mark..

[46]  Kevin C. Desouza,et al.  Knowledge management at SMEs: five peculiarities , 2006, J. Knowl. Manag..

[47]  John S. Edwards,et al.  Toward understanding inter-organizational knowledge transfer needs in SMEs: insight from a UK investigation , 2006, J. Knowl. Manag..

[48]  Anne Smith,et al.  Improving Survey Response Rates from Chief Executive Officers in Small Firms: The Importance of Social Networks , 2006 .

[49]  Craig M. Parker,et al.  Virtual Communities of Practice for Regional Small Businesses: Bringing Informal Networks Online , 2006, Bled eConference.

[50]  Frank W. Dewhurst,et al.  Linking shared organisational context and relational capital through unlearning: An initial empirical investigation in SMEs , 2006 .

[51]  Rachelle Bosua,et al.  Towards a model to explain knowledge sharing in complex organizational environments , 2007 .

[52]  Juan-Gabriel Cegarra-Navarro,et al.  Implementing e-business through organizational learning: An empirical investigation in SMEs , 2007, Int. J. Inf. Manag..

[53]  Elayne W. Coakes,et al.  Developing communities of innovation by identifying innovation champions , 2007 .

[54]  Daniel Maranto-Vargas,et al.  Development of internal resources and capabilities as sources of differentiation of SME under increased global competition: A field study in Mexico , 2007 .

[55]  Timothy James Edwards,et al.  A critical account of knowledge management: agentic orientation and SME innovation , 2007 .

[56]  Kavoos Mohannak.  Innovation networks and capability building in the Australian high‐technology SMEs , 2007 .

[57]  Matt Reed,et al.  Vocational training: trust, talk and knowledge transfer in small businesses , 2007 .

[58]  F. Tunç Bozbura,et al.  Knowledge management practices in Turkish SMEs , 2007, J. Enterp. Inf. Manag..

[59]  Gavin Cassar,et al.  Forecast Rationality in Small Firms** , 2007 .

[60]  Jari Ylitalo,et al.  Exploration of knowledge sharing challenges in value networks: a case study in the Finnish grocery industry , 2007 .

[61]  Michael Wade,et al.  Does e‐Business Matter to SMEs? A Comparison of the Financial Impacts of Internet Business Solutions on European and North American SMEs , 2007 .

[62]  Ning Nan,et al.  A principal-agent model for incentive design in knowledge sharing , 2008, J. Knowl. Manag..

[63]  Forming a community of practice to strengthen the capacities of learning and knowledge sharing centres in Latin America and the Caribbean : A Dgroup case study , 2008 .

[64]  Lilia Maria Vargas,et al.  Knowledge creation in small-firm network , 2008, J. Knowl. Manag..