EVALUATING THE EFFECT OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IN SMALL BUSINESSES

Information technology (IT) has become a strategic vehicle for small businesses to achieve and sustain their competitive advantage. Prior research has suggested that information technology plays an important role in the decision-making process. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between organizational IT performance and decision making effectiveness in small businesses. In this study, a survey of 300 managers working in small businesses is proposed to gather data and measure the relationship between organizational IT performance and decision-making effectiveness. Descriptive statistics and Crohnbach's Alpha are used to analyze the data. Information technology has provided managers with many benefits such as access to an abundance of informational sources, quicker responses due to the speed of gathering information, and overall improvement in the decision-making process. With the opportunities available through the use of information technology, discovering measures in which to use these resources are crucial to the success of the business. This study is focused on the effect information technology has on decision-making in small businesses.