An international empirical study on the relationship between decision‐making information complexity and resource‐based view in small and medium‐sized enterprises

Abstract This study contributes to the topic of small and medium‐sized enterprise (SME) decision‐making peculiarities from a resource‐based view (RBV). It provides empirical evidence on the relationship between the decision of SMEs and a variety of information sources. We analysed a comprehensive dataset drawn from the Global Competitiveness Project on SMEs' competitiveness, including cross‐sectional data of 784 businesses from eight countries. The extent of information used by SMEs is positively affected by the intensity of competition, networking and the existence of formal and informal relationships, the higher level of innovation activity and a more complex compensation system. We could only partially support the fact that the amount of information used by SMEs in decision‐making is positively influenced by their marketing practices. The SME leaders should consider the fact that their business is much smaller than their potential benchmarking counterparts, and a mere imitation of decision‐making‐related information sources is not necessarily leading to the desired outcome.