Journal
INTERNATIONAL SMALL BUSINESS JOURNAL-RESEARCHING ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Volume 27, Issue 3, Pages 307-336Publisher
SAGE PUBLICATIONS LTD
DOI: 10.1177/0266242609102276
Keywords
customer relationship management; diffusion of innovation; entrepreneurs; environmental complexity; information technology; market turbulence; relative advantage; risk orientation; small business; technology
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Customer relationship management (CRM) technology provides a strategic opportunity to better understand customers. Virtually unexplored is research targeting CRM adoption by small businesses. This exploratory study investigates the factors that influence the adoption of CRM technology by small entrepreneurial retail firms. A key premise is that 'entrepreneurial' retail store owners can be differentiated from 'owner-managers' through their adoption of CRM. A preliminary model is developed and tested through a sample of 386 small hardware retailers responding to a mail questionnaire. The findings show that CRM adopters had higher product class knowledge, a greater risk orientation, saw a stronger relative advantage, perceived higher environmental complexity and hostility, and had a more open business change orientation.
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