A methodology for researching the process of information management in small firms

Describes the combination of research methods used to investigate the process of Information Management (IM) in small firms. IM was defined as encompassing all management issues related to Information Systems (IS) and involving processes relating to planning, organization, control and technology.A large body of literature details the issues associated with IM in large organizations, assisting the understanding of the processes involved in this organizational context. This is not the case for small firms. Due to the different situational context of small firms, it is essential that the issues associated with IM be made explicit. Argues that a “between‐methods” triangulated approach is most suitable for researching IM in small firms, enabling cross‐validation of data yielded by different methods. The research approach was inductive, making use of a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods. A mailed questionnaire study was conducted to identify macro level phenomena which were investigated at a later stage by developing case studies of four companies which had participated in the questionnaire study. This second phase of the research provided rich data on phenomena which occur at the micro level. The use of multi‐site studies overcame the problems associated with the specificity of single case studies. The findings of the two research strategies were reconciled using Grounded Theory; conclusions were drawn and models generated for use by other researchers.