Informal network players, knowledge integration, and competitive advantage

In today’s hyper‐competitive environments, generation and dissipation of knowledge can no longer be understood from within the boundaries of formal organizational mechanisms. Previously, researchers have studied knowledge management based on formal mechanisms; however, few have examined the role played by informal mechanisms. In this paper, we examine the roles of informal network players in knowledge integration and discuss their effects on competitive advantage. For researchers, our paper provides testable propositions and a future research agenda. For practitioners, our paper shows how informal network players influence an organization and offers human resource management implications.