For innovative SMEs, acquiring knowledge resources may serve as an important source to enhance their knowledge base of management practices. In line with the resource interaction approach, an essential way to do this is to participate in informal interfirm networks. Yet, researchers have only given cursory attention to resource exchange in cooperative networks. This study examines the structural, relational, and motivational drivers that lead firms to establish informal networks of relationships to find, exchange, and combine knowledge resources. Following a mixed methods research design using interview data and social network data, the study demonstrates that informal networks play a pivotal role for SMEs to capture valuable resources increasing their knowledge stock, forge organizational standing, and gain social connectivity through reciprocity. This research implies that knowledge as a resource transcends the individual organization, which offers implications for resource interaction in inter-organizational knowledge networks and management practice.

对于创新型中小企业来说，获取知识资源可能是增强其管理实践知识库的重要来源。根据资源互动方法，实现这一目标的一个重要途径是参与非正式的公司间网络。然而，研究人员只是粗略地关注了合作网络中的资源交换。本研究考察了导致公司建立非正式关系网络以寻找、交换和组合知识资源的结构、关系和动机驱动因素。根据使用访谈数据和社交网络数据的混合方法研究设计，该研究表明，非正式网络在中小企业获取宝贵资源、增加知识储备、建立组织地位和通过互惠获得社会联系方面发挥着关键作用。