‘Risky business’: Perceptions of e-business risk by UK small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs)

This paper explores the risk perceptions of key stakeholders in SMEs when making decisions on technology investments. Current literature focuses on the nature of the technology from a technical perspective and its associated benefits to the SME. We seek to make a contribution that builds on the small but growing work, which views investment technology decisions as the outcome of a process of both objective and subjective risk assessment. Evidence presented in this paper suggests that subjective elements play an important part in assessing technology risks. Our empirical findings are that both e-business experience and the role of the decision-maker within the firm influences risk perception, whereas, sector differences are more modest. One implication of our findings is that policy interventions should be more sensitive and targeted at different types of stakeholders – owners, IT professionals and other individuals rather than on the sector in which the SME operates.