The Influence of Information Sharing Linkages on Business Performance: Evidence from Micro and Small Enterprises in Sarawak

Abstract

This paper investigates the relationship between information sharing linkages (i.e. customer linkage, supplier linkage and internal linkage) and micro and small business performance in Sarawak, Malaysia. The empirical results reveal that customer linkage and supplier linkage have positively influenced business performance meanwhile internal linkage has negatively influenced business performance. Due to the challenge of obtaining the responses from business owners and managers of medium-sized enterprises, the responses are recorded only from micro and small businesses. This leads us to conclude that the findings can help small and medium enterprises, researchers and academicians to better understand on the importance of information sharing linkages that affect business performance. Additionally, the findings provide evidence on the ability of the enterprises to utilize the information sharing linkage as a resource to improve business performance.