IRMA-International.org: Creator of Knowledge
Information Resources Management Association
Advancing the Concepts & Practices of Information Resources Management in Modern Organizations

A Comparison of the Information Needs and Information Seeking Behavior of Entrepreneurs in Small to Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) in Developing and Developed Countries: A Review of the Literature

A Comparison of the Information Needs and Information Seeking Behavior of Entrepreneurs in Small to Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) in Developing and Developed Countries: A Review of the Literature
View Sample PDF
Author(s): Linda L. Lillard (Clarion University, USA)
Copyright: 2014
Pages: 18
Source title: Information Access and Library User Needs in Developing Countries
Source Author(s)/Editor(s): Mohammed Nasser AI-Suqri (Sultan Qaboos University, Oman), Linda L. Lillard (Clarion University, USA)and Naifa Eid AI-Saleem (Sultan Qaboos University, Oman)
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-4353-6.ch009

Purchase


Abstract

“Entrepreneurial spirit has been described as the most important economic development stimulus in recent decades” (Chalhoub, 2011, p. 67). In the early 1990s it was estimated that small to medium sized enterprises SMEs employed 22% of the adult population in developing countries and the role of SMEs is viewed as increasingly important in developing countries because of their capacity to create jobs (Okello-Obura, Minishi-Majanja, Cleote, & Ikoja-Odongo, 2007, p. 369). According to Lingelback, de la Viña and Asel (2005), even though entrepreneurship has been linked to wealth and poverty in developing countries and has played an important role in growth and poverty alleviation, it is the least studied significant economic and social phenomenon in the world today. Examining how the information needs and information seeking behavior of entrepreneurs from developing countries may differ from entrepreneurs in developed countries is important as it has been suggested that “entrepreneurship in developing countries is distinctive from that practice in developed countries and that understanding these distinctions is critical to private sector development in developing countries” (Lingelback, de la Vina, & Asel, 2005, p. 2). A review of the studies produced thus serves as a beginning for designing information packages and information services that can benefit a global population. Consequently, this chapter targets the information needs and information seeking behavior of entrepreneurs revealed in studies associated with SMEs in both developed and developing countries and offers conclusions and recommendations for meeting the information needs of this population.

Related Content

Alice S. Etim, Wole Michael Olatokun. © 2024. 20 pages.
Lilian C. Mutalemwa. © 2024. 27 pages.
G. Nixon Samuel Vijayakumar, Vinay Kumar Domakonda, Shaik Farooq, B. Senthil Kumar, N. Pradeep, Sampath Boopathi. © 2024. 34 pages.
Elisha Mupaikwa, Kelvib Joseph Bwalya. © 2024. 35 pages.
Oluwatoyin Catherine Agbonifo, Samuel Ibukun Olotu, Toyosi Ayo Oluwatusin. © 2024. 22 pages.
James S. Etim. © 2024. 19 pages.
Vanessa Hiu Ying Chan, Dickson K. W. Chiu. © 2024. 24 pages.
Body Bottom