Descriptive evidence on small business managers' information choices

• 成果类型: Article; Early Access
• 署名作者: Bernard, Darren; Cade, Nicole L.; Connors, Elizabeth H.; de Kok, Ties
• 署名单位: University of Washington; University of Washington Seattle; Pennsylvania Commonwealth System of Higher Education (PCSHE); University of Pittsburgh
• 刊物名称: REVIEW OF ACCOUNTING STUDIES
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1380-6653
• DOI: 10.1007/s11142-025-09885-5
• 发表日期: 2025
• 关键词: selective exposure; INSIDER TRADES; TECHNOLOGY; BEHAVIOR; performance; incentives; attention; systems; seeking; demand

摘要

We use direct measures of information acquisition from a business intelligence service to provide descriptive evidence about small business managers' information choices. We show that managers are heavy consumers of email pushes and dashboards but that consumption varies substantially over time and cross-sectionally. The information managers acquire largely facilitates performance monitoring; product, inventory, and staff management tools are also widely used. Cross-sectional analyses provide support for economic motivators such as business complexity, and within-store analyses raise the possibility that hedonic motivations matter-that is, managers appear to consume information, at least in part, based on their expectation of how the information will make them feel. Still, on net, information acquisition appears productive, as greater acquisition predicts higher sales and fewer stockouts. Overall, our study provides micro-level evidence on managerial information acquisition, an important input into the design and use of increasingly pervasive data products such as dashboards.