Determinants of Small Business Internet Usage: A Multi-method Investigation of Perceived Benefits

Small business Internet usage has gained much popularity among researchers in Information Systems and Entrepreneurship over recent years — with many undertaking surveys of small businesses or Internet Service Providers (ISPs). The newness and dynamic nature of this area, however, means that multiple research methods are needed to obtain an in-depth understanding of the key issues. In this paper, we demonstrate that by combining survey techniques with case study research, we can shed light on issues such as: organisational characteristics with which Internet adoption is associated and directions for change; the true reasons behind the claim of “improved competitive advantage”. These findings provide a foundation for a robust research framework of small business Internet use, although further refinement is still required before the framework can be completed. 1 This paper was published in the proceedings of "Bled'96 9th International Conference on Electronic Commerce, Bled, Slovenia, June 9-11, 465-483.