Entrepreneurship in PracticeNo Access

The Influence of Industry Association Involvement on Technology Decision-Making in Small Businesses

Jeremy A. Woods

School of Business & Public Administration, California State University, Bakersfield, Bakersfield, CA 93311-1022, USA

E-mail Address: jwoods7@csub.edu

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Richard Gottschall

SUNY Plattsburgh, New York, USA

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Charles H. Matthews

University of Cincinnati, Ohio, USA

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, and

Alan L. Carsrud

Åbo Akademi University, Turku, Finland

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https://doi.org/10.1142/S0218495817500121Cited by:2 (Source: Crossref)

Abstract

Often owner/decision-makers in closely-held small businesses are overloaded with work and can become isolated from novel information that could improve their decisions and ultimately firm performance. These decision-makers become reliant on heuristics to ease their cognitive burdens and develop a strong bias for the status-quo. Research suggests that external counsel and/or informal advisors may help to encourage more thoughtful consideration of situations, thus exposing or alleviating status-quo bias. This paper contributes to the understanding of decision making in small firms by examining relationships between industry association membership and the willingness of decision-makers in such firms to adopt new technologies. Evidence is found suggesting that small firm owners’ access to decision-making information from business associations is related to a greater willingness to adopt new technologies. This is evidence of conscious decision-making that enables their small businesses to go beyond the status-quo.

Keywords:

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