UNDERSTANDING THE INFLUENCE OF INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS, INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION PATTERNS AND CONTEXTUAL FACTORS ON TACIT KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER EFFICIENCY IN BUSINESS NETWORKS

2 ABSTRACT Over the last decade, there has been an upsurge in interest among scholars on the importance of tacit knowledge transfer in firms, due to the belief that tacit knowledge represents a major source of sustainable competitive advantage (Darr and Kurtzberg, 2000). Despite this interest, factors affecting knowledge transfer at the micro level of analysis, namely a firm‟s interpersonal relationships and communication patterns, have been largely ignored, leaving a significant gap in substantive knowledge. This study will combine the foregoing micro level aspects of knowledge transfer with important contextual factors of the network environment: the geographic proximity of businesses in the network, the structural equivalence of network actors, network structure and a firm‟s absorptive capacity. A conceptual model is presented that depicts these variables as influencing tacit knowledge exchange efficiency. It is perceived that the contextual factors enhance the association between interpersonal relationships, their communication patterns and tacit knowledge transfer, while the nature of the interpersonal relationship (that is, close) has a positive impact on their communication patterns and, in turn, both of these variables have a positive influence on tacit knowledge transfer efficiency. A mixed method approach will be carried out on three business networks of small and medium sized enterprises in the south-east region. Through an incorporation of network theory with the interpersonal relationship and communication literatures, it is perceived that this study will make a significant contribution to academic knowledge