Contextualising the Role of Extra-firm Personal Networks as a Source of Work-related Knowledge

This paper systematically examines the role of extra-firm personal knowledge networks vis-à-vis alternative sources of work-related knowledge. A guiding question is whether there is a difference between job positions. The study is based on a survey and interviews with 105 R&D workers in 46 IT companies in the Greater Cambridge Region. The results show that alternative sources of knowledge are considerably more important than external personal networks. Importantly, the results highlight that for technical engineers/developers, external personal knowledge networks are significantly less important than for senior managers. Furthermore, the most frequent type of knowledge that is uniquely available through personal networks concerns business knowledge of senior managers rather than technical knowledge. Overall, the results suggest that academic theory and R&D management/policy on personal knowledge networks needs to be more sophisticated and would benefit from differentiating between job positions.