Closed Clubs and Inclusive Interaction: Acquiring Digitalization Knowledge Through Learning‐by‐Interacting in a Peripheral Innovation System

ABSTRACT In contrast to traditional perspectives, recent research has highlighted advantages of peripheral environments for innovation, such as enabling certain types of innovation and trust‐based cooperation. Yet, most of this research is of systemic nature, tending to overestimate structural conditions, whereas the characteristics of firms and their strategies for innovating in such environments are equally if not more important for enabling learning and innovation. Therefore, this study uses two surveys of qualitative interviews to investigate how small and medium‐sized enterprises in the peripheral Emsland region in Northwest Germany acquire digitalization knowledge in the absence of strong formal support structures. Differentiating between six forms of practical learning‐by‐interacting processes allows an in‐depth analysis of how learning emerges through the targeted actions of firms in a specific regional setting. Our findings show that while firms with low digital capacity passively absorb knowledge through open regional networks, digitally advanced firms strategically engage in selective, trust‐based learning groups. Access to such “closed clubs” depends heavily on reputation and embeddedness. The study contributes to innovation research by highlighting the interplay between regional opportunity structures, particularly in economically robust peripheral regions, and firm characteristics, and by demonstrating how firms (fail to) manage acquiring knowledge for their digital development.