Decision maker's inertia in SMEs: a multiple case study in sales invoicing

Objectives of the Study: The main objective of this study was to identify possible inertia in SMEs and its effects on decision making. The secondary objective was to observe differences in adoptive decision making factors between large companies and SMEs using technology-organization-environment (TOE) framework as a comparison theory. The purpose was to gain understanding of SME decision making and factors that influence it. Academic background and methodology: This study was conducted in form of qualitative multiple case study and included eight SME case companies. The case companies were selected from various industries. Their sales invoicing process and adoptive decision making was analyzed. The research was conducted using a predetermined and mostly open-ended questionnaire in face-to-face situation. Existing studies in the field of adoption were utilized. Findings and conclusions: Inertia in this study was identified as a decision maker's inertia because the term "inertia" is commonly used in multiple functions. The factors affecting adoption were divided to drivers and barriers. These drivers and barriers were identified from the observations and their rationality in practice with decision making was analyzed. Multiple cases showed similarities with factors that can be argued to be irrational. Inertia was identified in seven out of eight cases. The TOE frameworks capability to explain adoption in SMEs was concluded to be insufficient, so the appropriate extensions were made to further explain adoptive factors in SME decision making. This study's limits were accounted and the extensions were made broad enough to cover different varieties of behavior, and not only what was found on this study