The Role of Organisational and Informational Factors Affecting Knowledge Utilisation in Agri-food SMEs

Abstract

Given the critical role of information and marketing in SME management it is surprising that little attention has been paid to the salient factors that motivates or inhibits consumer information use by agri-food SMEs. A model of organisational and informational factors affecting knowledge utilisation in Agri-food SMEs is presented and empirically tested through partial least squares analysis via SmartPLS. The results of the empirical testing of the conceptual model provide evidence to indicate that functional and technical qualities, provider-user interaction and usefulness in market environment are determinants of knowledge utilisation. The findings of this study have implications for agri-food SME management in the UK regarding their growth and competiveness in the medium and long term.