E-business use and value for fast growth smallto-medium enterprises in turbulent environments

While e-business has been playing an increasingly role in facilitating firms to conduct businesses, there is a dearth of research examing the antecedcents and outcomes of e-business use in the entrepreneurial small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs). Drawing upon the technology-organization environment (TOE) framework and resource-based view (RBV) of the firm theory, we develop, theorize, and test an integrated theoretical model to evaluate the antecedents and consequences of ebusiness use in the fast growth SMEs context. We propose that IT resources, strategic IT alignment, market orientation, managerial perception of industry environments, and business partnerships are the key antecedents enabling fast growth SMEs to use e-business, and thus help these companies to achieve and sustain e-business value in turbulent environments. Structural equation modeling is employed to test our theoretical conceptualization on a cohort of 310 Australian fast-growth SMEs across different industrial sectors. The results confirm our conceptualization, highlighting the prominent role of IT, strategic planning, culture, managerial skills, and business partnerships in SME success. Our study provides initial empirical evidence to understand the relationship between IT and entrepreneurial SME performance. These findings have important implications for research and business practices.