Knowledge Sharing Enablers in Small Business Networks

Introduction

With increased global and local competition, the ability of small businesses to share knowledge can be a source of competitive advantage (Jashapara, 2011). The question is, what enables this knowledge sharing? The move towards a knowledge-based economy has placed a premium on the way small businesses assimilate and share that knowledge (Blankley & Booyens, 2010; Powell & Snellman, 2004), especially in an emerging economy like South Africa. Women have been disproportionally affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, adding to South Africa’s structural unemployment and the “feminization of poverty” (Parry & Gordon, 2021, p. 797). Female entrepreneurs in Africa are essential for economic growth, yet face resistance due to complex cultural norms (Ojong, Simba, & Dana, 2021, p. 237) and therefore need additional support and the connections networks provide (van Blokland, 2018). Female business owners have less opportunity to share knowledge through networking than men do (Dawa & Namatovu, 2015; Herrington & Kew, 2016; Oke, 2013), even though women tend to be more open to knowledge sharing than men (Connelly & Kelloway, 2003). Networks dominated by men do not provide collaborative, welcoming support for female entrepreneurs (van Blokland, 2018). Women only entrepreneurial networks have emerged in response to the need to share knowledge among female entrepreneurs facing similar problems, facilitated by the ease of creating virtual networks (Cao, Guo, Liu, & Gu, 2015; Shanmuga & Sakthi, 2015).

In a systematic review of gender and knowledge management, Heisig and Kannan (2020) conclude that gender has been overlooked in the knowledge management research, with only seven papers found in knowledge management journals. Much of the research into inter-organisational knowledge sharing has focused on industry-specific relationships or formal collaborations (Agostini, Nosella, Sarala, Spender, & Wegner, 2020; Van Der Meer, 2014), rather than small business or entrepreneurial networks. Further, the focus on female small businesses in a developing economy underscores their importance for employment, equity and economic growth (Ekpe, Mat, & Ekpe, 2015). With the rise of emerging economies considered a mega-trend, research in this area is particularly pertinent (Cano-Kollmann, Hannigan, & Mudambi, 2018; Olanrewaju, Hossain, Whiteside, & Mercieca, 2020) and is likely to increase post-pandemic.

Previous research has largely ignored individual factors such as gender, when considering knowledge sharing enablers (Marouf & Khalil, 2015). The prevalence of social media networks means these networks exist at least partially online, especially in the time of Covid-19, broadening the geographic scope of membership and facilitating essential knowledge of global issues (Cano-Kollmann et al., 2018; Haeffele, Hobson, & Storr, 2020; Olanrewaju et al., 2020). The objective of this research is to investigate knowledge sharing enablers in female small business networks, filling the gap at the intersection of female entrepreneurs in developing economies, business networks and knowledge sharing.