The Impact of Inter-Firm Knowledge Sharing and Nature of Relationship on Satisfaction with LSP's Performance

Many organizations have come to realize that their organizational knowledge is a dominant source of developing sustainable competitive advantage, particularly in this dynamic yet turbulent business environment. Inter-firm knowledge sharing has been recognized as an important area of study in both organizational learning and KM research. This paper aims to theorize and assess a structural model that depicts the impact of inter-firm knowledge sharing and nature of relationship on satisfaction with LSP's performance. Data were collected from 165 manufacturing managers working in the industrial estates of Guilan (located in North of Iran) which have outsourced at least one activity and analyzed using a structural equation modeling methodology. The findings indicate a positive relationship between inter-firm knowledge sharing and nature of relationship with satisfaction while the effect of inter-firm collaboration on satisfaction with LSP performance is not significant.