Strengthened Through Collaborations: Convergence of Interfirm and Intrafirm Knowledge Exchange for Improving Informal Economy SMEs' Sustainability Performance

Abstract

The role of knowledge exchange (KE) between and across firms has been widely studied. However, KE dimensions that reflect a sequence of interfirm and intrafirm KE among SMEs in emerging economies remain scantily examined in the literature. We fill this gap by investigating the direct and direct effects of KE dimensions on the SMEs sustainable performance (SP). Our analysis of 264 SME owner/owner‐managers, using the PLS‐SEM, showed that although there is no direct relationship between knowledge exchange from business collaboration (KEBC) and knowledge exchange during training (KET), KEBC and KET impact on the SP dimensions. Also, KET mediates the relationship between KEBC and SP. Our study arises among the few investigations that have given credence to developing economy informal SMEs' role in the sustainability discourse.