The influence of conflict and intuition on explorative new products and performance in SMEs
Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development
ISSN: 1462-6004
Article publication date: 20 July 2017
Issue publication date: 30 October 2017
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of conflict and intuition on explorative new products and performance in small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
Design/methodology/approach
The study proposes a theoretical model that was tested using two survey instruments: one instrument was administered to the owners of 150 SMEs within the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the second was administered to senior managers within the same SMEs.
Findings
The results show that within the decision-making process both objective and personal conflicts drive decision makers to the use of intuition, with high levels of market turbulence strengthening the effect of objective conflict on the use of intuition. Furthermore, the use of intuition was found to have an adverse effect on explorative new products, negating the positive effectiveness of explorative new products on SME performance.
Research limitations/implications
The study’s conceptual model may not completely represent the perspective it aims to elucidate. An alternative model with equally well-conceived explanatory variables could provide further interesting results.
Practical implications
Drawing on the perspective of the decision-making process, an interpretation of the model results and some practical implications are discussed.
Originality/value
The primary contribution of this study is the introduction of a model investigating the influence of conflict on the use of intuition in strategic decisions. Furthermore, the study collected empirical evidence from SMEs operating in the dynamic economy of the UAE, which is a less studied setting.
Keywords
Citation
Zacca, R., Dayan, M. and Elbanna, S. (2017), "The influence of conflict and intuition on explorative new products and performance in SMEs", Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, Vol. 24 No. 4, pp. 950-970. https://doi.org/10.1108/JSBED-02-2017-0034
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2017, Emerald Publishing Limited