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The decision-making literature emphasizes that social ties play an important role in high-stake decisions. However, research on small- and medium-sized enterprises has only partially covered these influences by focusing on the direct link between social ties and the effectiveness of decision-making. In this paper, we focus on absorptive capacity of decision-makers as a critical mechanism that gives social ties their potency in explaining collaborative decision-making in an inter-organizational network (ION) context. In a sample of key individuals in 13 export consortia, this study identifies the extent to which the characteristics of personal network affect individuals’ absorptive capacity. Our results suggest that weak and heterogeneous ties between key individuals in an ION are central mechanisms that influence their ability to access, assimilate, transform and utilize information. However, indirect ties do not show a …