My Research Paper on USA Small Businesses

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 Hello everyone!

I wanted to hop on here and discuss research I've been doing that I've titled "Digital Technology Adoption in American Small Businesses: Why Adoption Does Not Always Lead to Improved Performance." I have the amazing opportunity to work and be mentored by Dr. Larisa Ozeryansky, who holds an MPH, an MSIPM, and a PhD, and is currently a Teaching Assistant Professor of Public Health at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Her unique health lens and experience writing research papers have guided my research into peer-reviewed literature on the barriers to adoption.

Although my paper is not yet complete, I still wanted to highlight the main takeaways here early. What I found in 30+ peer-reviewed journal articles on small businesses' adoption of digital tools is that adoption is not the end of the story; much more is necessary afterward to ensure maximum performance gains. Furthermore, strategic planning before adoption drives a firm's ability to maximize growth from the tool.

Here are my main barriers to proper technology adoption in small businesses that I found to reappear in the literature:

  1. Incorrect / Ineffective Adoption: factors such as a manager's perceived usefulness of the tool, ease of use, cost-related obstacles, executive beliefs, organizational readiness, and external pressure can hinder proper adoption. 
  2. Lack of Training and Organizational Capability: weaknesses in employees' ability to use the tool, in managerial understanding of how the tool works, or in overall organizational capabilities can weaken the tool's effectiveness, even if it has the potential to improve performance.
  3. Superficial Use of Digital Tools: adopted tools are used only at a superficial level, rather than for deeper analytical or strategic purposes, limiting the potential return and performance boost the tools can deliver.
  4. Failure to Integrate Digital Tools Into Decision-Making: The real value of adopted technology appears when it actively shapes how firms monitor performance, make decisions, and organize their work. Top management must ensure that the tool is aligned with the business strategy. Tools should be used in tandem with complementary structures, and the rationale for adopting a new technology must be grounded in a strategy that situates it within them. 

Much more is discussed in my paper about these main takeaways. My final research paper has much more reasoning, evidence, and analysis. The final paper will also include an analysis of my Brookline case study, which I have discussed in previous blog posts. I have been using the data from the case study to connect evidence of adoption barriers from the literature to the real world. 

Overall, this experience has been so meaningful. Learning how to properly write a literature review has taught me the importance of organizing what certain papers argue, and the analysis I am doing for my case study is something I have always deeply enjoyed.


Be on the lookout for updates. Once I'm done, I will be back with a way to access the final version of my paper.

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