Knowledge use in ICT investment decision making of SMEs

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to discuss how managers use knowledge when making ICT investment decisions. ICT investments are complex processes and also have strategic implications for organizations. The focus of the study is to reveal how the organizational process of knowledge creation affects the individual‐level of decision making and how knowledge conversions between tacit and explicit knowledge occur in this process. Design/methodology/approach – The data consists of information collected by six semi‐structured interviews from six small‐ or medium‐sized companies. Knowledge use in ICT investment decision making is analyzed qualitatively and found categories of the different decision maker types are presented. Findings – In ICT investments, there are three contributing factors: problem, product, and provider. The results show significant differences in how the tacit and explicit dimensions of knowledge act by forming a cognitive model of decision‐makers' use of knowledge. Research limitations/implications – Owing to the qualitative approach, the findings do not show the frequencies of a certain type of a decision maker in the SMEs in general. Practical implications – To be more effective, the models of ICT investment decision making for SMEs should emphasise the tacit knowledge used in the process. Originality/value – The paper presents rare empirical findings on how the decision makers in the SME context use knowledge in their ICT investment processes.