6. Discussion and conclusion This paper, while not conclusive, encourages a broader appreciation of the subtleties of risk decisions in dynamic, complex and often covertly interconnected context of e-business. It does not close the debate rather it acts as a starting point for further debate.This study makes four contributions to improving our understanding of technology risk within SMEs, using a psychometric approach to examining owner/manager perceptions relating to e-business/on-line risk.Its first contribution is to extend the more technically focussed studies of technology usage within SMEs, such as Levy et al. (2005)and Levy and Powell (2003). This paper emphases the importance of perception of risk in influencing technological investment decisions. It found that SMEs view security-related issues as their greatest threat, flowed by viruses and worms, and credit card fraud.
Threats relating to employee, competitive and tax risks were placedin the lowest risk category.Our second contribution shows that reported risk perceptionis strongly influenced by the characteristics of the respondent. Forexample, owners/managers in SMEs with short duration of incorpo-ration (and by implication-limited experience of using e-business)perceive e-business risk(s) to be lower, and the benefits higher,than those in enterprises with more e-business experience. The roleof the respondent influences reported risk assessments. For exam-ple, IT professionals rate employee-related threats more highly, butplace less emphasis on knowledge risks than other managers.Thirdly, this work enhances previous attempts to provide a com-prehensive a posteriori e-business risk classification framework forSMEs. Its practical value is to provide a list of risk-issues to helpinform SME owner/managers reflecting on whether or not to investin technology. It also provides a benchmark for owners/managersto compare their perceptions of risk with others from a similar busi-ness setting, i.e., similar size and length of operating experience.Our fourth contribution relates to public policy. The centralmessage is that e-business training and development programmesfor SMEs should firstly focus on the risks associated with usingor not using the technology. Second, training and developmentprogrammes for SMEs need to be better segmented since risk per-ceptions vary according to experience, growth paths and role in theenterprise. Where segmentation does take place currently, it tendsto be sector specific – yet this is the one variable where we observealmost no diversity! Finally, we highlight three areas for furtherdevelopment.First, this study was undertaken during a period of exceptionalausterity, which may have influenced the results. The seminal workby Covin and Slevin (1989) emphasised that the managerial quali-ties that lead to success in small firms varied sharply between whatthey called “hostile and benign environments”. There is thereforea need for a comparable study in more benign circumstances.Second, building on our research, we see merits in using the psy-chometric approach alongside more mathematical and technicalapproaches to assist SMEs to make better informed decisions.Our final suggestion acknowledges that e-business is a globaltechnology that links different organisations and country popula-tions together. The numerical dominance of SMEs in every economyin the world-each of which is likely to be struggling, albeit to dif-ferent degrees – to assess the risks and benefits of e-business. Howrisk is perceived and how investment decisions are made is trulyan international small business issue.