Market Orientation and Manager's Innovativeness in the Adoption of Managerial IT in Small Firms: Application to the Retail Sector

This research examines the effect of market orientation and the managers' propensity for implementing technological innovations in small retailers. In particular, the authors consider four management IT: computerized order management systems, inventory and sales control systems, customer information management systems, and commercial web pages. Information was collected through a personal survey from managers and owners of 272 small retail companies. The results obtained show that the manager's innovativeness is the main determinant of the implementation of new administrative and commercial technologies in small retailers. The market orientation of an organisation does not directly influence the adoption of IT. However, this variable positively affects the manager's innovativeness and therefore plays an indirect role in the implementation of IT. Therefore, the results obtained show that, in reduced dimension companies, corporate behaviours are widely determined by the individual decisions of the manager.