Tacit knowledge as a source of competitive advantage in the National Basketball Association

In this study, we investigate a central tenet of the resource-based view of the firm-that tacit knowledge often lies at the core of sustainable competitive advantage-and attempt to articulate it with greater theoretical precision than has been done previously. Using data from the National Basketball Association, we find support for a predicted positive relationship between shared team experience and team performance that declines as shared experience grows, eventually becoming negative. The implications of this study for non-sports-related firms are discussed along with suggestions for future research.