Socio‐technical factors influencing channel use for knowledge‐sharing in regional SME networks

The economic sustainability of regional areas is dependent on cross‐industry innovation and knowledge‐sharing among Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). The web‐based initiatives deployed in regions worldwide to facilitate SME knowledge‐sharing have typically been unsuccessful. This paper argues that the main reason for these failures is the lack of understanding of the socio‐technical factors which influence the use of web‐based channels (websites, online forums and expertise databases) as well as the more conventional channels (face‐to‐face and e‐mail). This paper reports the findings of interpretive case studies of two regional SME business networks. It evaluates the major channels on six socio‐technical criteria: link strength; trustworthiness; tacitness; usability; durability and currency. None of the channels were strong against all socio‐technical factors. This highlights the importance of achieving an appropriate mix of channels to facilitate SME knowledge‐sharing.