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Here’s an Opportunity: Knowledge Sharing Among Competitors as a Response to Buy-in Uncertainty

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  • Tristan L. Botelho

    (Yale School of Management, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06511)

Abstract

Although knowledge sharing among competitors is seemingly counterintuitive, scholars have found that competitors share knowledge under certain conditions: among actors who have a preexisting relationship and who expect direct reciprocity. However, there are examples of knowledge sharing among competitors that cannot fully be explained using these relational mechanisms. In this study, I propose that in markets where competitors are a set of key stakeholders, knowledge sharing is a strategic response to high levels of buy-in uncertainty related to a potential opportunity, namely, the likelihood that stakeholders will come to realize the value of a potential opportunity in a timely fashion. Using a unique data set of knowledge sharing among investment professionals on a digital platform, this study leverages variation in the platform’s knowledge-sharing structure to test this theory. I find that knowledge sharing among these competitors is most likely when buy-in uncertainty for a given opportunity is high and that this knowledge sharing does lead to subsequent buy-in.

Suggested Citation

  • Tristan L. Botelho, 2018. "Here’s an Opportunity: Knowledge Sharing Among Competitors as a Response to Buy-in Uncertainty," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 29(6), pages 1033-1055, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:ororsc:v:29:y:2018:i:6:p:1033-1055
    DOI: 10.1287/orsc.2018.1214
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