Abstract
Despite resource and skill constraints, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) do adopt new technologies successfully. Yet, a knowledge gap exists as to how SMEs achieve this. This paper examines how 16 European SMEs came to adopt new information technologies. Rooted in the Social Network Analysis (SNA) domain, the data used in this research originates from 20 different Information Systems (IS) projects. Using the networking aspect of ‘how’ small firms adopt new IS, the focus here is on the type of tie, intensity of the connection (professional versus personal) and direction of networking activities (push, pull and discovery). The evidence suggests that the networking activities of small firm owners and managers critically affect the adoption of new IS and that these activities occur mainly between managers and their professional peers, supporting the notion of the strength of weak ties in a new technology context.
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