Entrepreneurs’ Information-Seeking Behaviors in the Digital Age–A Systematic Literature Review

ABSTRACT

This paper explores how digitalization and development of critical literacies influence changes in entrepreneurs’ information-seeking behavior, and how such changes in behavior directly influence the resource acquisition, bundling, and leveraging process, contributing to the development of personal and business competencies and growth. Building on the logic of resource-orchestration theory, this paper presents a systematic literature review covering 39 studies published between 1990 and 2020 that summarizes the current state and trends at the intersection of digitalization, the entrepreneurs’ critical literacies, and information-seeking behavior. The review results reveal three main streams of research including (i) digitalization and entrepreneurs’ ICT adoption, (ii) entrepreneurs and critical literacies, and (iii) entrepreneurs’ information-seeking behavior. Based on the review results that reflect a fragmented status quo of entrepreneurship research, we develop a holistic framework and outline future research directions for entrepreneurship. This research expands the traditional boundaries of entrepreneurship research by considering the implications of entrepreneurs’ critical literacies and their information behavior on resource orchestration process. The findings provide practical implications indicating the need to address the key challenges of entrepreneurs in a fast-changing and interconnected business environment.

KEYWORDS:

• Critical literacies
• digital literacy
• digitalization
• entrepreneurs
• information access
• information literacy
• information-seeking behaviors
• information sources

Introduction

In entrepreneurship and management literature, value, rarity, inimitability, and nonsubstitutability have been extensively employed as core logic to highlight the relationship between resources and competitive advantage, and firm performance (Crook et al., 2008). In addition, asset orchestration, derived from dynamic capability research, consists of two primary dimensions – search/selection and configuration/deployment (Sirmon et al., 2011). Resource orchestration (RO) focuses on how firms’ structure, bundle, and leverage resources to create value by focusing on the role of the manager in achieving a resourced based competitive advantage (Sirmon et al., 2011). As new ventures emerge, entrepreneurs engage in a process of building on their individual human, social and financial capital to develop these resources into venture competencies and construct their resource base (Brush et al., 2002). Entrepreneurs identify, attract, assemble, and combine resources on their way to developing a unique advantage. As the venture develops, resource structuring requires obtaining financing, hiring, and training employees, and establishment of alliances (Miller & Friesen, 1984). Then as the start-up grows, entrepreneurs need to acquire critical literacies and competencies that will help them search, bundle, and leverage resources such as connecting to other stakeholders to allow resource acquisition and innovation (Lumpkin & Dess, 2001; Zahra et al., 2009). The decisions about structuring, bundling, and allocation are influenced by the quality and type of information that entrepreneurs are able to obtain (Teece, 2007). To date, the RO process has not considered the influence of digitization and how this influences critical literacies, and information-seeking behavior (ISB) of entrepreneurs.

Critical literacies refer to abilities that enable us to recognize an information need, and then use different sources to access information by using digital technologies. While we have multiple literacies, information literacy (IL) and digital literacy (DL) are two of the most important literacies for entrepreneurial activities (Sariwulan et al., 2020). By developing such literacies, entrepreneurs can obtain the necessary skills when accessing information from digital sources and using digital technologies. Information literacy refers to a set of abilities enabling entrepreneurs to efficiently locate and use information sources to solve an information need (Ciftci & Knautz, 2016). Digital literacy refers to a set of abilities needed to participate in a digital world to use and interact with digital devices and tools. Moreover, in the context of entrepreneurship, Neumeyer et al. (2021, p. 1610) argue that DL enables entrepreneurs to effectively use digital artifacts (application), digital platforms (a common place where complementary services are offered), and digital infrastructure (tools and systems), to support innovation and entrepreneurial activities. It also important to note that the difference between literacies and competencies should not be ignored, although we might use both terms interchangeably in this paper. Literacy has traditionally been defined as the ability to read and write, but in today’s digital world, with so many different tools, people are required to have multiple literacies to read and write in diverse ways. But a competence is a bundle of skills for a predefined purpose.

Digitization also has dramatically affected the sources, access, and processes for obtaining information that can guide the RO process. For example, Welter et al. (2019) argue that the changes brought about by digitalization in many entrepreneurial activities have flattened the information and resource hierarchies that have traditionally defined the social structures within which entrepreneurs operate. More significantly, the digitization of many entrepreneurial activities allows for rapid, low-cost access to sources and forms of information that were previously only available to a limited number and often to larger organizations (Welter et al., 2019, p. 326). Kraus et al. (2018), and Roetzel (2019), argue that many traditional business information sources (for example, personal and informal) have been replaced with digital information, demonstrating how digitization has had a substantial impact on entrepreneurial activities allowing entrepreneurs to have access to an unlimited amount of information. However, the proliferation of digital information sources can be overwhelming and challenging to entrepreneurs (Nambisan et al., 2017), specifically to those who do not possess a high level of critical literacies (for example, IL and DL). In essence, digitization is a new dynamic environmental context, within which there is uncertainty that produces deficits in the information needed to identify cause and effect relationships, and these deficits affect the way that firms manage resources to create value (Robert Baum & Wally, 2003; Sirmon et al., 2007). It is within this new digital context that entrepreneurs must develop critical literacies to facilitate their information behavior throughout start-up and growth as a foundation for RO decisions.

Current work in RO recognizes that the process for entrepreneurial ventures varies in dynamic environments where they need to experiment with allocation patterns to support their business models (Rutherford et al., 2003). It is also demonstrated that information communications technology (ICT) and network capabilities enable a firm to orchestrate resources more efficiently and effectively, which in turn leads to a stronger entrepreneurial orientation (Wales et al., 2013). However, the actual process of entrepreneurs’ ISB, and the role of associated entrepreneurial literacy (IL and DL) needed in this process are not well understood.

Wilson (1999) broadly conceptualizes ISB as activities a person may engage in when identifying his or her own needs for information, searching for such information, and using or transferring the information. In entrepreneurship context, entrepreneurs’ information needs are contextual, and they typically apply several methods to seek and access information on subjects that enabled them to solve entrepreneurial problems in their workplaces (Ikoja-Odongo & Mostert, 2006, p. 148). When looking at this behavior from the perspective of entrepreneurs, some authors such as Palmer (1991), found that there are several gaps in their knowledge and competencies (for example, low literacy levels, insufficient information infrastructure, and information illiteracy) that hinder them from properly dealing with the challenges they experience at work.

To this end, despite the contemporary significance, and escalated research parallel to the growth in the phenomenon of digital entrepreneurship, (Nambisan et al., 2017), e-entrepreneurship (Kollmann, 2014; Kraus et al., 2018), entrepreneurs’ ISB and information-search behavior (Nikou et al., 2020; Olanrewaju et al., 2020), and digital innovation and venturing (Kraus et al., 2019), there is a distinct gap in the present entrepreneurship literature. Missing is an understanding of the association between digitalization, entrepreneurs’ ISB, and entrepreneurs’ critical literacies, and how these together influence the development of competencies needed for resource allocation, RO, and building of a competitive advantage and growth. While entrepreneurship research has discretely focused on concepts such as digitalization in entrepreneurship (Torres & Augusto, 2020), entrepreneurs’ digital literacy (Neumeyer et al., 2021), and entrepreneurs’ information behavior have been less studied (Ikoja-Odongo & Mostert, 2006). The RO studies talk about the entrepreneur’s role in steering the process, recognizing entrepreneurial capabilities, technological and political capabilities – but none consider the role and how digitization may have influenced entrepreneurs’ ISB and the RO process (Baert et al., 2016; Zhou et al., 2017).

In this paper, we aim to review literature, and conceptualize these concepts by using the RO theory to explicate how information is acquired from different information resources by applying critical literacies and using digital tools and devices, and how entrepreneurs leverage information (assessing entrepreneurs’ information behavior). Thus, RO is used as a theoretical framing within which we examine entrepreneurs’ ISB and competencies. Such systematic reviewing of literature enables us to understand better whether the orchestration of the resources and capabilities can lead to a competitive advantage. This raises an important question:

How does digitization influence development of critical literacies and information seeking behavior of entrepreneurs, and how does ISB lead to development of competencies that can lead to better resource orchestration and growth?

The objective of this paper is to fill the gap identified above and demonstrate that entrepreneurs’ critical literacies, and ISB are essential precursors in the resource orchestration process. To achieve this, a systematic review of the literature published between 1990 and 2020 is performed. This approach is relevant since it allows for an effective synthesis of a collection of earlier studies in a certain research domain. Specifically, this paper aims to provide an answer to Nambisan (2017, p. 1029) – who has called for the careful consideration of digitalization and its unique characteristics in shaping entrepreneur’s information behavior. This review paper includes a variety of businesses, including SME’s, entrepreneurial ventures, and start-ups in a range of sectors and industries. However, because of the explicit search criteria used to address the overarching objective of the paper, some of the most essential contributions in entrepreneurship research may be overlooked. The key rationale for this explicit approach is that we are interested in publications, which have only looked at digitalization, entrepreneurs’ ISB, and critical literacies simultaneously in their studies.

This paper makes three important contributions. First, using the RO as a theoretical lens to analyze the selected publications, three streams of research have emerged from content analysis that deal with digitalization and entrepreneurs’ ICT adoption, entrepreneurs and critical literacies, and entrepreneurs’ ISB. An evaluation of these streams provides new insights to fill the research gap, and highlights future directions for study, especially with regard to the intersections between digitalization, entrepreneurs’ critical literacies, and entrepreneurs’ ISB. Second, considering that entrepreneurs are the engine of economic growth and poverty alleviation in society, and based on the analysis of the literature and themes that emerged in this paper, we suggest a number of propositions and develop a research framework to identify existing research directions on digital entrepreneurship, and expand our current understanding of entrepreneurs’ information needs, and information-seeking patterns. Our findings highlight a need for new theory development, because such theoretical and practical understanding of information needs and information-seeking patterns will help us to design sustainable information delivery services to entrepreneurs on a global scale (Chiware & Dick, 2008). Santos et al. (2019, p. 24) argue that even though entrepreneurship education is a means of empowering entrepreneurs, there has been little conceptual progress and theorizing on the subject. Third, following the RO logic, we argue that critical literacies are valuable intangible resources, which influence the process by which information is applied to decisions in structuring, bundling, and leveraging resources in entrepreneurial firms.

The rest of the paper is structured as follow: an overview is provided of the core concepts, including entrepreneurs’ ISB toward digital information sources, and the concept of literacy in the digital age, then the research methodology is explained. The descriptive as well as narrative results and discussions on the findings are summarized. Discussions and possible practical implications are followed by outlining the theoretical and methodological contributions, and suggestions for future research agenda.

Background

Orchestration of the resources, according to RO, is the comprehensive process of structuring, bundling, and leveraging a firm’s resources to create value for customers and gain competitive advantages for the company (Sirmon et al., 2007). Digitalization and digital technologies facilitate firms to acquire and accumulate unique resources that are critical to executing their business operations (Zhou et al., 2017, p. 715). However, while digitalization provides the advantage of producing and using information resources, lowering information access costs, and facilitating quick information flows, entrepreneurs need to develop the necessary literacies to effectively access, manage, synthesize, use information, and make decisions (Cooper et al., 1995; Eze et al., 2018; Omiunu, 2019). When examining the literature, the significance of this becomes evident, which shows that (i) many entrepreneurial decisions regarding venture creation and development are based on incomplete information (Short et al., 2010), (ii) much of entrepreneurs’ decision-making is challenged by missing, inaccurate and ambiguous information (Gruber, 2007, p. 786), (iii) strategic failures occur when assigning scare resources, and (iv) many entrepreneurs lack critical literacies (Saptono, 2018; Neumeyer et al., 2021). For example, Barreto (2012), argues that entrepreneurial activities occur under conditions of uncertainty due to the amount and nature of information that is available, or as McMullen and Shepherd (2006) argue uncertainty runs along a continuum from complete ignorance to near certainty. Moreover, capabilities are qualifications or skills (for example, IL) needed to perform a certain activity (information behavior), or the ability of a firm to perform a task (information search) that creates value for the organization (Grant, 1996). Therefore, in the entrepreneurial context, digitization can be seen as way to develop new capabilities facilitating the pursuit of strategic objectives and cutting transaction costs especially through online business activity (Bar Nir et al., 2003).

Digitalization in entrepreneurship

Digitalization is the use of digital technologies for different business operations, offering a variety of advantages, such as increasing the speed of product/service development, internationalization process, the flexibility of new ventures creation, and saving both tangible and intangible resources (Nambisan, 2017; Pergelova et al., 2019; Proksch et al., 2021). Nambisan (2017) argues that a strategic focus on raising the degree of digitization can assist businesses in better managing their scarce resources (Zhou et al., 2017). Due to digitalization, entrepreneurs may now access information sources more effectively and efficiently, which opens up new possibilities for production, growth, enhancement, and renewal (Kooskora, 2021; Proksch et al., 2021). Moreover, digitalization enables creating digital information sources, which are stored in digital formats and retrieved over distributed networks (Bhattacharya, 2007). Compared to the traditional printed information sources, which limit access through time and space, the ICTs and digital technologies facilitate resource orchestration process (Zhou et al., 2017), and grant the entrepreneurs frequent access to information through sophisticated search operators regardless of the geographical and time difference (Ganaie & Khazer, 2015).

Furthermore, digital technologies benefit entrepreneurs by reducing the impact of time constraints, information overload (Nöhammer & Stichlberger, 2019), and geographical information dispersion. For instance, the automation of modern ICT significantly reduces the amount of manual work and time spent on investigating databases to find relevant information. Most ICTs provide technology designed to help reduce the noise and arrive at more precise results. They also include advanced search capabilities, which allow entrepreneurs to place sophisticated and complex queries to reach relevant and timely information and notify them about new or updated information.

To summarize, threefold conclusion can be made: (i) the widespread use of digital technologies in business operations has revolutionized the way entrepreneurs access information, and use them to find answers to their business needs, (ii) the advantages provided by the digital technologies are crucial for entrepreneurs in the resource orchestration process and reconfiguring their resources (Baert et al., 2016), when working with scarce resources in a high-pressure and high-demand environment, and (iii) the rapid spread of digital technologies, particularly internet access, has accelerated the shift in emphasis on entrepreneurs’ information behavior, particularly when it comes to constructing strategy for searching and using information (re)sources (Samthiyavalli & Usharani, 2012).

Critical literacies

The ability to think and reason rationally to solve complicated and open-ended problems is referred to as modern literacy, and it involves a set of abilities contributing directly to perform active and effective information searches by utilizing digital devices, tools, and application (Boyles, 2012, p. 45). While multiple literacies and in particular, IL (Boyles, 2012), and DL (Sariwulan et al., 2020), are regarded as crucial individual’s capacity in an information-based economy, these concepts are often overlooked in entrepreneurship research (Ghafar, 2020; Nikou et al., 2020; Obschonka, 2014; Saptono, 2018; Wilson et al., 2009; Wise, 2013). Regarding competencies and development needed in the digital context, Neumeyer and Liu (2021) provide a comprehensive framework on technology and digital literacy. The authors state that while the basic DL involves the ability to use information and ICTs to access, evaluate, create, use, and communicate information, DL in the context of entrepreneurship is an observative capacity, and includes three dimensions (cognitive, social, and technical), and entrepreneurs need to develop all these dimensions (Neumeyer et al., 2021). According to the authors, DL and adaptability are critical components in assisting managers to recognize new opportunities for the organization (Neumeyer & Liu, 2021). In this regard, it can be argued that entrepreneurs are required to develop high levels of DL in order to employ digital technologies, ranging from basic communication tools to a more sophisticated data analytics tools that can aid their short- and long-term decision-making.

Moreover, critical literacies enhance entrepreneurs’ ability to access, evaluate, create, use, and communicate information that provide inputs for resource acquisition, structuring, and leveraging. In addition, the entrepreneurs’ ability to engage in numerous business activities and practises (that is opportunity recognition, creativity, and invention) enhances the RO process, which also promotes entrepreneurs’ flexibility to positively fit into their business environment (Boyles, 2012; Pérez-Escoda et al., 2019). Finally, as digitalization influences entrepreneurship practices, entrepreneurs are expected to develop multiple literacies necessary to function efficiently and be able to cope with the constant social, economic, and technical changes (Saptono, 2018).

Information-seeking behavior

The concept of ISB has originated from the concept of information need, which is an understanding of one’s own knowledge that is insufficient to meet a specific goal (Case, 2002). When an individual recognizes that her or his knowledge is inadequate to deal with or to solve a problem, the ISB is taking place (Lwoga et al., 2010). Thus, ISB is an outcome of a need to satisfy some objectives, and it refers to the processes of determining a user’s information needs, searching behavior and subsequent interpretation and the use of information (Julien, 1996).

In the entrepreneurship context, ISB can be understood as the process of understanding of how entrepreneurs seek for and use business information, what sources they use to obtain information, how they deal with the challenges of unlimited amount of unstructured information and its exponential growth and identifying the factors that inhibit or encourage the use of information (Roetzel et al., 2019; Wilson, 1997: p. 551, 2000). Kaish and Gilad (1991, p. 45) emphasize the role of information and ISB as a central element of entrepreneurial behavior. Ikoja-Odongo and Mostert (2006) further argue that in the entrepreneurship context, the importance of ISB arises from the realization that entrepreneurs’ current level of knowledge is insufficient to deal with many business problems and issues. The authors claim that entrepreneurs use a variety of information-seeking methods, mostly informal (for example, oral means to seek information and contacting people who they know) to obtain information. However, the authors also note that there are various gaps in their literacies that hinder them from properly dealing with the information challenges they confront at work (p. 154).

On that account, several authors have also emphasized the importance of entrepreneurs’ ISB and their information behavior such as (i) information search ability and its impact on entrepreneurs’ performance (Chen et al., 2016), (ii) information access and innovation (Molnár & Bernat, 2007; Savarese et al., 2016; Teece, 2010), and (iii) information search and opportunity recognition (Haase & Franco, 2011; Ozgen & Baron, 2007; Zhang et al., 2010). Karia et al. (2020) noticed another important issue, which is the impact of information overload on constructing entrepreneurs’ information behavior. The authors found that information overload may have a direct but negative impact on entrepreneurial self-efficacy and highlighted its role on the entrepreneurs’ cognitive and information processing ability for business performance (p. 64).

Digitalization, critical literacies, and information-seeking behavior

To summarize, the literature has conceptualized and emphasized, but discretely, on the importance of the three concepts in the entrepreneurship: digitalization, critical literacies, entrepreneurs’ ISB. However, there is a lack of understanding of how these concepts together influence the RO process to gain competitive advantage and business growth. We observed that digitalization has altered the nature of entrepreneurial practices, and that entrepreneurs must improve their IL and DL as well as adapt their ISB appropriately. It should also be noted that critical literacies and ISB are fundamentally two different, but interrelated concepts. Critical literacies, such as IL, and DL reflect on entrepreneurs’ abilities to access, use, and evaluate information to learn, solve problems, and to generate new knowledge. In other words, IL and DL present how skillful an entrepreneur is when she or he performs an information seeking activity using digital technology. In contrast, ISB is an everyday information behavior of entrepreneurs such as how they seek and use of information, what sources they use to obtain information, how they deal with the challenges of the volume of information and its exponential growth, and what factors influence their intention to use difference information sources.

Research methodology

In this paper, systematic literature review (SLR) is performed. This is an appropriate approach for the current paper as it allows to gather the collective evidence in literature describing, mapping, synthesizing the state of knowledge, and suggesting agenda for future research (Snyder, 2019, p. 334). Greenhalgh et al. (2004) argued that SLR is characterized by an “explicit, rigorous, and transparent methodology” (p. 582). Moreover, this method enables us: (i) to find all empirical evidence that meets the research predetermined inclusion/exclusion criteria, (ii) to answer the research question, and (iii) to synthesize research findings in a systematic, transparent, and repeatable manner from which conclusions and decisions can be drawn (Moher et al., 2010; Snyder, 2019). The model depicted in Figure 1 is based on the discussions provided above, and will be used as a guide to how we are thinking about the literature review. Based on Figure 1, we argue that entrepreneurs need to develop their critical literacies, and, as a result, change their information behavior while seeking information. They will then be able to orchestrate their resources in order to get a competitive advantage and grow their firm.

Figure 1. Literature review model.

When searching databases, only studies focusing on digitalization, critical literacies, and entrepreneurs’ ISB in entrepreneurship context will be selected, as the aim is to assess how these three enable RO process, and business growth. This is in line with previous research by Debarliev et al. (2020, p. 1), stating that constructive entrepreneurial abilities (for example, IL and DL) have significant impact on entrepreneurial attitudes and behavior (for example, ISB). Thus, based on these main concepts, which are guided by the research question and objectives, the keyword strings were created for the review protocol (Kraus et al., 2020).

However, it is worth noting that we are aware that employing this combination of keywords (please see Table 1), may limit our data gathering and lead us to overlook some of the most valuable contributions. But as the goal is to present how, for example, digitalization as an enabler and critical literacies as competencies impact the construction of entrepreneurs’ ISB, and that how the outcome of such behavior enables RO, business growth (Ferreira et al., 2019a), we are confident that this is an appropriate approach.

Table 1. Key terms used in this research.

Focus	Search terms
Entrepreneurs	(“entrepreneu*” OR “entrepreneurship” OR “SME*” OR “micro-enterprise*” OR “startup*” OR “start-up*” OR “small business”)
Digitalization	AND (“digital technolog* OR “digitalization” OR “digitalisation” OR “digital transformation”)
Information-seeking behaviors	AND (“information behavio*” OR “information-seeking behavio*” OR “digital information source*” OR “information source*” OR “information need*” OR “information service*” OR “information practice*” OR “information search”)
Critical literacies	AND (“information literac*” OR “digital literac*” OR “digital competenc*” OR “digital skill*” OR “ict literac*” OR “ict skill*”)

Search strategy, search terms, and inclusion/exclusion criteria

As in many other SLR papers, we developed the review protocol (Kraus et al., 2020, p. 1033), that is a search strategy that ensures a transparent and high-quality process for identifying relevant literature, selecting appropriate databases to conduct the search, creating search terms, and specifying the inclusion and exclusion criteria based on the research question and objectives (Snyder, 2019). Three databases: Web of Science (WoS), Scopus, and EBSCO were selected. These are the databases that provide access to publications in a variety of fields. Moreover, in these databases, it is possible to use complex search strings and filters, which makes it easy to apply complex eligibility criteria. Therefore, these three are deemed to be the most appropriate databases for conducting the current SLR (Kraus et al., 2020). The search terms (see, Table 1) were employed in each of the three databases to search for articles’ title, abstract, and keywords.

According to Mallett et al. (2012), inclusion and exclusion criteria in SLR not only provides the basis for the assessor to make valid and reliable findings, but also it should be guided by the selected research question. We used criteria, which are commonly used in SLR studies such as the publication year, language of the article, and type of publication. In this review paper, the search was restricted to the following parameters. We specified that studies should be written in English, must be peer-reviewed publications and published between 1990 and 2020. One thing to keep in mind is that we did not limit our search to any specific publication type or journal type and discipline (for example, entrepreneurship or business-focused outlets), because we were seeking for publications that not just focused on entrepreneurship and digitalization, but also took literacy and information behavior into account. As a result, we include conference papers, book, and book chapters too.

However, as we mentioned due to this criterion, some of the most important entrepreneurial and business-related publications may have gone unnoticed. This approach, however, should not bias our analysis because we have specific agenda and search terms, and attempted to find studies that addressed all four search terms in their research. In light of the fact that entrepreneurship is still a relatively young discipline (Ferreira et al. 2019b; Kraus et al., 2020, p. 1028), as a result, many previous articles used somewhat different terminology for the same study object or the same terminologies for different research objects. For example, we did not include studies by Allen (2020), and Solberg et al. (2020), who studied digital mindset and tech literacy, but not exactly IL and DL or studies by Puckett (2020), and Arvidsson and Mønsted (2018), who studied digital adaptability and digital entrepreneurship referring to digitalization in entrepreneurship.

Search results

The initial database search results revealed 745 publications. In addition to this, and from other sources, four more studies were found to be significant and relevant, making 749 publications in total. After checking the results for possible duplication entries, 28 duplicates were removed. Then the selection criteria were applied. As only English, peer-reviewed studies published between 1990 and 2020 were accepted, the sample was reduced to 697 studies, after removing another 24 publications. Next, initial screening of the records was conducted. After screening the title, abstract, and keywords of each study, we further decided on their fit and relevance, and as many as 615 studies were removed. Based on the research question and objective, the remaining of 82 studies were deemed relevant and matched the main search terms. These studies were further examined for the quality assessment, and screening in full text to ensure they met the inclusion criteria.

By the end of this step, we removed another 43 studies that did not fully meet the inclusion criteria. The final sample was composed of 39 studies that were downloaded for reading the full text and further content analysis. The detailed information of the 39 studies such as the title, year of publication, publication outlet, authors information, field of research, type of literacy under investigation (see Appendix), were recorded and saved in a data extraction form (spreadsheet document). The literature selection process is described in Figure 2, depicting the PRISMA diagram. This diagram describes the identification, screening, eligibility, and inclusion criteria of the reports that fall under the scope of a review.

Figure 2. PRISMA flow diagram.

Descriptive distributions

The selected studies were classified based on their research focus, research methodologies, year of publication, type of publication, and place where the research was conducted in order to get an initial perspective. Appendix 1 contains information about the publications, such as the authors, title and the year of publication, and the total number of citations. To visualize some of the descriptive findings, VOSViewer¹ was used to illustrate the results landscape.

Publication year and type

The distribution of the selected studies over time shows that academic interest for the subject has grown, reaching the most output from 2016 to 2020. However, during these four years, the number of studies has fluctuated. Most of the studies were published in 2017 and 2018; the years following showed a slight decrease in publications. Interestingly, the studies related to critical literacies with the focus on information and digital literacy have increased in the mainstream research, focusing on digital adoption, and entrepreneurs’ ISB, with the peak from 2018 to 2020. But there is a clear gap in the top-ranked entrepreneurship journals focusing on entrepreneurs’ critical literacies and their information behavior. With regard to the type of publication, most of the selected studies are journal articles, accounting for almost 79% of the selected publications, and the rest are either conference proceedings or books (chapter). Among the outlets, Small Business Economics had two publications.

Research methods

Regarding the research design employed in the selected studies, (n = 19) 51% of them are quantitative, and qualitative method (n = 11) is the second popular methodology with 31% of the publication, respectively. Only four studies employed a mixed-method approach using both qualitative and quantitative methods. Five of the selected studies were conceptual researh. A small portion of the selected studies (8%), is a national report publications, for example, addressing the e-government development in the country or a discussion in which the authors discussed how libraries can support the information and help access for entrepreneurs/potential entrepreneurs.

Geographic distribution

As for location where the research is conducted, Finland had the most with four publications, followed by the UK, Canada, China, and Malaysia with three publications each. Regarding the regions, most of the research to date is done in Europe with 16 publications and the participation of 10 countries (for example, the Netherlands, Finland, UK, Italy, Slovak Republic, Czech Republic, Poland, Portugal, Turkey, and France). Asia is the next most influential continent with 13 publications distributed in nine countries, including China, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Israel, Iran, Taiwan, Sri Lanka, and Singapore. The number of publications located in North America and Africa is equal to five publications, but most were published in North America (Canada).

Visualization research keywords using VOSviewer

The 39 studies were downloaded in *txt format and then processed by VOSviewer to visualize and analyze trends in the form of bibliometric maps. With the help of this software, we could build a keywords (used in the selected studies) map based on the shared network. Keywords present the key content of publications given by the authors. The bibliometric results of these keywords show the co-occurrence of the author keyword, indicating that the papers have a common research focus and that could signify the research trend in the area. Therefore, this bibliometric analysis provides suggestions for the development of themes in content analysis and supports the completion of content analysis for the research activity and progression. Due to the small size of the sample, the minimum number of occurrences of a keyword was set to three, which leaves us with the 23 keywords (for example, growth, IL, DL, and information) out of 220 keywords totally found in the studies. VOSviewer displays keywords occurrence in network visualization (Figure 3). In other words, these 23 keywords have each been used at least three times in selected (39) studies.

Figure 3. Visualization keyword occurrence using network visualization.

After analyzing the keywords of the selected studies using VOSviewer, we densified four main relationships between the keywords, which are colored in red, green, blue, and yellow. The size of the circle is positively correlated with the appearance of keywords in the titles and the abstracts of the selected studies. Therefore, the size of letters and circles was determined by the frequency of occurrences. In other words, the more often a keyword appears, the more strength it has and the larger the size of the letters and circles. For example, “SMEs” has the strongest strength, followed by “performance,” “managers,” and “innovation” (see Figure 3).

The distance between the two keywords presents the relative strength and the topic similarity. Circles in the same color suggest a similar topic among the publications, each represents a focus of the research topic. We assigned labels to the four main co-occurrences by analyzing their main node circles. For instance, the keyword within the red circle is the “SMEs” (see Figure 3), with the close linkage to “managers,” “uncertainty,” “information,” “environmental scanning,” “strategy,” “information sources,” suggesting a research trend of environmental scanning for information or information access. The green keywords, “innovation,” “adoption,” “performance,” “leadership,” “entrepreneurship,” “knowledge,” “education” (see Figure 3), highlight the essence of many of the current discussions and debates over technology and its relation to entrepreneurs’ performance, knowledge enhancement and innovation (see Figure 4). The blue keywords (see Figure 3), “information literacy,” “digital literacy,” “growth” and “technology,” deal with the essential of literacies for entrepreneurs to grow in the digital world (Figure 4). The yellow keywords in Figure 3, “information technology,” “user acceptance,” “perceived usefulness,” and “model” evokes ICT adoption in boosting entrepreneurs’ innovation (Figure 4).

Figure 4. Visualization keyword occurrence.

In addition, as Figure 4 depicts, the colors were used to represent the time-varying keyword occurrences from 2010 (in dark purple) to 2018 (in yellow). The overlay visualization is identical to the network visualization except for those items, which are colored differently according to the publication years of the related keywords. Based on this, before 2014, the research in this field is relatively scarce. Starting from 2014, the research began to grow, and the variety of keywords is also extensive, with the emphasis on “SMEs,” “performance,” “information,” “information literacy” and “information technology.” After 2016, there is a shift to the topics such as entrepreneurship and innovation, when new keywords such as digital literacy, technology, adoption, leadership were extended and added (Figure 4).

Content analysis and core dimensions

Although descriptive and bibliometric analysis reflect some publication trends and development in this research area, the content analysis provides more clarity and a deeper understanding of the literature. By combining these analyses, we increase the reliability and the validity of the findings answering the specific research question.

Based on the core dimensions (search terms) that we utilized to categorize the existing literature (see Table 1), three main research streams, or conversations (themes) emerged from analyzing the literature. The extracted themes are at the intersection of (i) digitalization and entrepreneurs’ ICT adoption, (ii) entrepreneurs’ critical literacies, and (iii) entrepreneurs’ ISB. Each is described in turn, and we present the findings of the content analysis. According to the findings, the first two themes influence the third, and the third one (entrepreneurs’ ISB) is directly linked to entrepreneurs’ use of digital information sources, moving toward competitive advantage, and personal and business growth.

In the following subsections, these three primary areas of conversation will be explained, and elaborated, followed by discussion on the emerging concepts, such as the development of digital information sources (DIS), the increase in the use of DIS by entrepreneurs, and the challenges that prevent entrepreneurs using DIS.

Conversation (research stream) 1: Digitalization and entrepreneurs’ ICT adoption

The first conversation (research stream) with four publications concentrates on the entrepreneurs’ ICT adoption and to access digital information. In the past five years, scholars paid attention to ICT infrastructure development and its influence on entrepreneurs’ information behavior. In the entrepreneurs’ ICT adoption, the central focus of the selected studies is on how digital information influences entrepreneurial activities, practices, and new venture creation processes (Eze et al., 2018; Jaska & Werenowska, 2018; Sahut et al., 2019; Zaremohzzabieh et al., 2016), see Table 2. For instance, Eze et al. (2018), show that in the digital technology context, uncertainty driven, compatibility, replacement of legacy technology, relative advantages, lack of technical know-how and perceived affordability influence the entrepreneurs’ information behavior. In addition, Jaska and Werenowska (2018), and Zaremohzzabieh et al. (2016), have also investigated the shift that the Internet has brought to the rural area, especially on how it has influenced venture creation and enhanced small business owners such as farmers and rural youth entrepreneurs to reach digital information, see Table 2.

Table 2. The list of articles within the entrepreneurs’ ICT adoption research stream.

Titles	Theme
The age of digital entrepreneurship	Entrepreneurs’ ICT adoption
Key success factors influencing SME managers’ information behavior on emerging ICT (EICT) adoption decision-making in UK SMEs	Entrepreneurs’ ICT adoption
The availability and use of media information sources in rural areas	Entrepreneurs’ ICT adoption
Information and communications technology acceptance by youth entrepreneurs in rural Malaysian communities: the mediating effects of attitude and entrepreneurial intention	Entrepreneurs’ ICT adoption

In sum, this stream of research focuses on the adoption of ICT and digital technology that has been accelerated by digitalization. In this conversation, the use of media information sources was also examined. Following RO theory (Sirmon et al., 2007), the extent to which entrepreneurs have adopted and invested in ICT, for instance, hardware, software, and network systems, can lead to better processes or more extensive approaches for searching out or acquiring and accumulating the resources needed to start a new venture.

Conversation (research stream) 2: Entrepreneurs and critical literacies

The second conversation (research stream) with nine publications, focuses on the role of critical literacies in the adaptation of entrepreneurs to digitization, including IL, DL, technological skills, and financial skills. The debate over critical literacies began at the turn of the millennium and has grown in importance over the last five years, with the majority of publications in 2020. This research stream reflects on the scholars’ awareness and interest toward recognizing the importance of the critical literacies, specifically IL and DL for the entrepreneurial activities, practices, entrepreneurs’ personal development and their business growth.

In the reviewed publications, IL refers to a set of abilities enabling entrepreneurs to efficiently locate and use information sources to solve an information need (Ciftci & Knautz, 2016). In the digital age, IL also includes critical thinking ability and the capability to efficiently search, identify and evaluate web-based data (Ng, 2012). Information literacy allows the information seekers to interpret and make knowledgeable judgments about an information source regarding its accessibility and quality (Kim & Sin, 2011). In addition, the explosion of digital information sources is closely associated with DL. If IL is a broad concept that generalizes an individual’s ability to handle information, DL refers to the ability to handle information using information technologies and ICTs.

Regarding entrepreneurs’ critical literacies, the review results showed that many publications emphasized the relevance of various competencies, with a particular focus on IL, and DL (compare Nikou et al., 2019), and their influence on entrepreneurs’ personal development and their business growth. While analyzing the studies in this research stream, it was found that the entrepreneurs’ literacies have an impact on their entrepreneurial activities, the efficient access and use of information, and lifetime learning experiences, see Table 3. In some studies, ICT and e-literacy, referred to as DL, were also discussed. For example, Oggero et al. (2020), studied how DL and financial literacy positively influence the entrepreneurial intention and business growth. The significance of DL in conducting information searching was also discovered significant for entrepreneurs, as digitalization may facilitate access to business information and knowledge exchange among individuals via websites and other social media sources. Ahmad et al. (2020), Bolek et al. (2018), and Jasiewicz et al. (2018), with a focus on the impact of literacy on the business growth, concluded that IL and DL are a driving force for entrepreneurs to operate efficiently in today’s information-based society. This is in line with RO theory in that it is the entrepreneur who leads the process, identifying, creating,and facilitating diffusion of knowledge, by identifying, evaluating, experimenting, and acquiring resources to be applied in the creation and growth of the venture (Baert et al., 2016).

Table 3. The list of publications within the critical literacies research stream.

Titles	Sub-themes
How does technological and financial literacy influence SME performance: mediating role of ERM practices	Entrepreneurial growth
Entrepreneurial spirits in women and men. The role of financial literacy and digital skills	Entrepreneurial activities
The impact of workplace information literacy on organizational innovation: An empirical study	Entrepreneurial performance
The relationship between lifelong learning trends, digital literacy levels and usage of web 2.0 tools with social entrepreneurship characteristics	Information access lifelong learning experience
Information literacy of managers: models and factors	Entrepreneurial performance and lifelong learning experience
Complex and multivariable: methodology of exploring digital literacy and training needs within the polish SME sector	Entrepreneurial activities
Web designers and developers’ experiences of information literacy: A phonomyography study	Information access
Information literacy amongst UK SMEs: an information policy gap	Information access
E-literacy-adoption model and performance of women-owned SMEs in Southwestern Nigeria	Entrepreneurial activities/growth

In addition, Bolek et al. (2018) and Erdogan et al. (2019), highlighted the importance of critical literacies (IL and DL) in the use of information and lifelong learning, which, in turn, increases the entrepreneurs’ stock of competencies. The concept of critical literacies further was found to positively impact both exploratory (information processing capability and market awareness), and exploitation (information acquisition, evaluation, and synthesis capabilities), for a better understanding of the distribution and utilization of available information resources.

Finally, other studies found that critical literacies had a strong influence on opportunity recognition, which leads to exploitative innovations and a shift toward competitive advantage. This was demonstrated by Sayyad Abdi et al. (2016), De Saulles (2007), and Erdogan et al. (2109), showing that the critical literacies, and the use of digital tools are essential in accessing the necessary information for entrepreneurs leading to their business growth. It should be noted that financial literacy also often appeared; however, the role of financial literacy was stated to be significant on the financial performance of the business rather than information access and acquisition.

In summary, this stream of research focuses on critical literacies and digital competencies, and how these abilities are linked to recognizing and implementing opportunities, business growth, and personal (entrepreneur) growth. From the RO process perspective, it is recognized that the manager or entrepreneur has an important role in acquiring and leveraging resources, as well as evaluating and prescribing changes to the configurations of resources, and assets in the organization (Sirmon et al., 2011; Brush et al., 2002). While it is recognized that technology competencies influence ways that entrepreneurs create and facilitate diffusion of knowledge to steer the RO process (Deligianni et al., 2019), by extension the review findings show that critical literacies influence information search processes leading to decisions about growth and performance.

Conversation (research stream) 3: Entrepreneurs’ information-seeking behavior

The third conversation (research stream) with the majority of the publications (26) in the data set concerns entrepreneurs’ ISB and information behavior. We have divided this conversation into three sub-sections to help better understand what has been studied in the publications. In the first sub-conversation with 13 studies, the concentration is on the digital information sources and services offered to entrepreneurs (for example, e-government services, libraries, web portals, and so on). In the second sub-conversation with seven studies, the concentration is on the significance of information access for entrepreneurs as a key driver of business growth and other related entrepreneurial practices. In the third sub-conversation with six studies, the emphasis is on the relation between environmental scanning for information access, and entrepreneurs’ ISB.

Sub-conversation 1: Information services (source of information)

Although entrepreneurs’ information services were identified as the main theme of the discussion in this sub-conversation, other concepts such as digital information sources, electronic government (e-government), and libraries were also discussed in the selected studies (see Table 4). The content analysis of the selected studies showed a high and increasing demand of entrepreneurs for digital information sources, especially through the Internet. Many scholars (for example, Jansen et al., 2010; Kassim, 2010; Shoham et al., 2006; Song et al., 2006), have discovered that the Internet (search engines, websites) is one of the most essential and frequently utilized sources of information, and that entrepreneurs have begun to recognize the need to adapt their digital behavior in order to better utilize these sources. For example, Song et al. (2006), explained that the development of information systems and infrastructures have moved toward an Internet/net centric environment, and further pointed out that the nature of small-scale and scarce resources of entrepreneurs make it a necessity for them to use these available sources. Jansen et al. (2010), argued that entrepreneurs mostly use the Internet to obtain information quickly, and when seeking government information they have a strong preference to use search engines like Google, rather than using portals offered by the government.

Table 4. The list of studies within entrepreneurs’ information services conversation.

Titles	Sub-themes
Social media and entrepreneurship: exploring the role of digital source selection and information literacy	Digital information sources
Research on embedded information service model of university library under the environment of innovation and entrepreneurship	Library
Exploring the Internet access of Indonesian SME entrepreneurs	Internet
e-government 4.0 in Thailand: the role of central agencies	E-government
Research support services to small and medium enterprises by university libraries in Uganda: an entrepreneurial and innovation strategy	Library
Problems and suggestions of rural information service platform construction in China	Digital information sources
Effect of digital transformation on organizational performance of SMEs evidence from the Taiwanese textile industry’s web portal.	Web-portal
Channel choice and source choice of entrepreneurs in a public organizational context: the Dutch case.	Digital information sources/E-government
Information needs of Malaysian Bumiputera would-be entrepreneurs.	Internet
Research on information service system for high-tech SMEs	Digital information sources
An exploratory study of Israeli start-up entrepreneur usage of the Internet	Digital information sources
Value-added information-services for small and medium-sized enterprises	Web-portal
Access to information for small business managers: examination of some strategies and values	E-government/library

In recent years, governments around the world have increasingly invested in developing and advancing their support through digital services aiming at reducing the burden in administration and hoping to better engage with the growth of entrepreneurs and their businesses (Guan et al., 2017; Sagarik et al., 2018). Despite such efforts, unpleasant responses from entrepreneurs to the e-government services have been discussed among selected studies (for example, Bouthillier, 2003; Guan et al., 2017; Jansen et al., 2010; Kassim, 2010). This suggests that, despite the benefits, entrepreneurs may not be ready to change their ISB, and government entities must find other solutions to encourage entrepreneurs’ use their digital services. For example, Bouthillier (2003), stated that entrepreneurs are disappointed with the e-government services because it is difficult for them to locate specific industry-related information on these sites. In addition, Guan et al. (2017), identified the lack of adequate digital skills of the entrepreneurs as a hindrance to adopt the services.

Furthermore, many studies discussed the library as one of the main information sources for the entrepreneurs. For instance, Guan et al. (2017), and Song et al. (2006), suggested that local governments must increase their engagements in establishing effective government information platforms (for example, by eliminating the region and industry separation), and offering one-stop services, as well as equipping entrepreneurs with the sufficient digital skills. Regarding libraries, it is notable that libraries, due to the nature of digitalization in the society, no longer only serve students, teachers, or providing their services only for educational purposes. According to Cao et al. (2019), and Buwule and Mutula (2017), libraries also work as the information providers offering necessary information for the entrepreneurs’ innovation and development processes. Therefore, it is necessary for entrepreneurs to change and adapt their ISB. Libraries are also potential enterprises’ research and innovation (R&I) units for the creation, use, dissemination, and storage of information. Although many studies (for example, Bouthillier, 2003; Jansen et al., 2010; Kassim, 2010), indicated when seeking for information, entrepreneurs are less interested in using libraries, because such places are acknowledged as indispensable information sources. It should also be noted that both public and university libraries have significantly digitized their journals, newspapers, books, databases, and other information resources, and often, they have subscriptions to databases that are too expensive for individual entrepreneurs (for example, Compustat, Bloomberg, Pitchbook, Statista, Mintel Market Size, etc.). Bouthillier (2003), found that entrepreneurs without a university degree seldom use libraries as their information sources. For drawing more entrepreneurs’ interest in using such services, Buwule and Mutula (2017), suggested the government’s initiative in bringing university libraries on board as partners in serving SMEs with R&I units.

In addition, the selected studies mentioned the web-portal services for the entrepreneur’s personal development and business growth. For example, Chen et al. (2016), discussed the positive influence of web portal services on entrepreneurs’ business growth and personal growth as they enable them to easily reach, share, and exchange information with their stakeholders, such as investors, customers, and partners. The authors highlighted that the importance of the operational friendliness of a portal’s interface like perceived usefulness, quality of the content, and the perceived organizational performance. However, they also argued that not all types of information should be available on those portals due to the nature of the industry. For example, publishing benchmark information for the textile industry creates more competitive disadvantages than advantages. Pieska (1993) also proposed the emergence of information engineer professions in the future, which was further confirmed by Shoham et al. (2006), arguing that entrepreneurs tend to rely on information professionals when using this kind of service. Finally, Song et al. (2006) stated that the service providers need to continuously develop comprehensive and interactive portal platforms to attract and maintain the participation and engagement of the entrepreneurs.

In summary, this sub-conversation focuses on how entrepreneurs use the Internet and widely available information sources rather than making use of specialized information sources such as the community of practice and webinars. Taking all together, it can be concluded that the digital services are available for entrepreneurs, and they only need to change their strategies for seeking information in the digital sources and developing their ISB. From the perspective of RO theory, Zhou et al. (2017) argued that, given the increasingly important role of ITs in modern business operations, and the significant link between firms’ RO actions and their competitive advantages, it is critical to evaluate the impact of ICT on business operations.

Sub-conversation 2: Entrepreneurs’ information access

The selected studies in this sub-conversation (seven studies) mainly discussed the importance of information access for entrepreneurship activities referring to entrepreneurs’ ISB (see Table 5). For instance, Tuomisalo (2019) argued that opportunity recognition is fundamentally resulted from ISB in the context of telecommunication multinational enterprises. Other scholars like Dulle et al. (2017), Kubata and Simek (2016), Molnár and Bernat (2007), and Savarese et al. (2016), highlighted the impact of information access on entrepreneurial development and business growth. While Kubata and Simek (2016) emphasized on the importance and the role of entrepreneur’s information behavior in business growth, Dulle et al. (2017), raised their concerns about entrepreneurs’ lack of critical literacies in information access, retrieval, and entrepreneurs’ ISB, in general.

Table 5. The list of studies within the entrepreneur information access conversation.

Titles	Sub-themes
Emergence of an entrepreneurial opportunity: a case within a Finnish telecommunication international new venture	Opportunity recognition
Entrepreneurial learning as experienced by agricultural graduate entrepreneurs	Entrepreneurial learning
Capacity building modules for public libraries to support small-scale business enterprises in Meru County, Kenya	Entrepreneur’s development
Identification of business informatics specifics in agricultural enterprise	Entrepreneur’s development
Knowledge sharing by entrepreneurs in a virtual community of practice (VCoP)	Entrepreneurial learning
New venture high growth in high-tech environments	Entrepreneur’s development
Enhancing the competitiveness of SMEs in the global economy: strategies and policies enhancing the competitiveness of SMEs through innovation	Entrepreneur’s development

Dulle et al. (2017), and Savarese et al. (2016), suggested boosting the integration of online information sources to extend entrepreneurs’ capability, and their collective know-how in reaching external sources for information and knowledge in the high-tech environment. The content analysis also revealed the significance of information access in the entrepreneurial learning process. For instance, Hafeez et al. (2019), highlighted the relevance of virtual community of practice (VCoP) as an open space for entrepreneurs to share, exchange, get support and learn essential information and knowledge for their business. Moreover, Zamani and Mohammadi (2018), discovered the learning process of entrepreneurs throughout their entrepreneurial journeys in which the authors found that Internet sources are less preferred among farmer entrepreneurs compared to their interpersonal contacts and libraries since they are looking for more practical information and knowledge, for instance, how to grow a flower.

In summary, this sub-conversation focuses on how entrepreneurs access information and revealed that entrepreneurs in different sectors use different sources to obtain information. In addition, it was found that some information sources are utilized less due to a lack of entrepreneurs’ literacies to access and retrieve information. Once again, by extension, the usage of digital sources can expand reach and types of information about competitors, product/service suppliers, labor, and the external environment in the resource acquisition and leveraging processes.

Sub-conversation 3: Entrepreneurs and environmental scanning

In this sub-conversation with six publications, environmental scanning (ES) was the focus of the studies (see Table 6). Environmental scanning is linked to entrepreneurs’ ISB, referring to the access, retrieval, and use of information about events, trends, and relationships in an organization’s external environment, and the knowledge that assists management in planning the organization’s future course of action. According to Auster and Choo (1994), entrepreneurs acquire/receive environmental information from multiple complementary sources. Among these sources, personal sources (for example, business associates, internal staff, personal network and close ties) are used frequently in scanning and decision making while printed sources such as newspapers, journals, and external reports are also highly used to acquire information about the technological and regulatory sectors. Auster and Choo’s (1994) study could be considered as one of the important contributions to environmental scanning, and its association with access to digital information sources. While Haase and Franco (2011), and Zhang et al. (2010), emphasized the impact of digitalization on the entrepreneurs’ environmental scanning, Jorosi (2008) indicated the less frequently used Internet-based information sources. The reason behind this difference could come from the difference in technology advancement and the popularity of this source among the two-sample population.

Table 6. The list of articles within the entrepreneurs and environmental scanning theme.

Titles	Themes
Information sources for environmental scanning: do industry and firm size matter?	Environmental scanning
Environmental scanning practice of enterprise 50: small medium enterprise (E50 SMEs)	Environmental scanning
Environmental scanning in Botswana’s SMEs: a study of the manufacturing industry	Environmental scanning
Technological scanning by small Canadian manufacturers	Environmental scanning
How senior managers acquire and use information in environmental scanning	Environmental scanning
The role of information literacy in environmental scanning as a strategic information system – a study of Singapore SMEs	Environmental scanning

In conclusion, the reviewed studies on the main area of conversations all focus on the main three core elements: digitalization, critical literacies, and entrepreneurs’ ISB, and these three factors are the primary motivators for entrepreneurs to use digital information sources in their day-to-day business activities. Specifically, entrepreneurs’ critical literacies, and changes in their information behaviors for using more digital information sources help them to grow both personally and professionally (for example, entrepreneurial performance, entrepreneurial development, and opportunity recognition).

Discussion

This paper used resource orchestration as a theoretical lens to review the literature on how digitalization, entrepreneurs’ critical literacies (for example, IL and DL), and entrepreneurs’ ISB lead to individual, and business growth. We reviewed and analyzed literature at the intersection of these three elements and performed a SLR on 39 studies published between 1990 and 2020. We found that these three factors are linked to the RO process, specifically, how entrepreneurs acquire and accumulate, as well as bundle and leverage resources, which influence venture creation and growth (Deligianni et al., 2019; Sirmon et al., 2011). The major findings are explained below.

The findings reveal that, due to digitalization, there has been a rising trend among entrepreneurs to shift their information behavior and utilize Internet sources to get business-related information during the last few decades (Karia et al., 2020). The content analysis shows that entrepreneurs’ information behaviors have shifted from reliance primarily on conventional sources of information (such as personal networks and informal connections) to greater reliance on Internet-based sources and government online information portals (Sagarik et al., 2018).

Furthermore, the flow of information within business contexts, access to information, and business decision-making processes have all been accelerated because of this behavioral change. Zaremohzzabieh et al. (2016) argue that compared to digital information sources, traditional sources such as personal network is rather restricted in their quantity and breadth. Moreover, the results show that digitalization has increasingly influenced the entrepreneurial activities across the world, from developed to developing countries, and from urban to rural areas (Guan et al., 2017; Jaska & Werenowska, 2018; Zaremohzzabieh et al., 2016). Moreover, the results indicate that digitalization has also enabled rural urbanization by allowing entrepreneurs to acquire all digital business-related information without having to migrate to the large metropolis (Zaremohzzabieh et al., 2016).

We found that on the global interconnectedness level, the use of Internet fosters the flow of information internationally, flattens the world economy, and supports the participation of small businesses and start-ups in the global market (Eze et al., 2018; Yuldinawati et al., 2018). Entrepreneurs have benefited from having unlimited access to digital information sources in terms of performance and development (Kubata & Simek, 2016), opportunity recognition (Tuomisalo, 2019), personal and business growth (Ahmad et al., 2020), scanning environment for accessing information (Haase & Franco, 2011), and further encouraging their long-term learning process (Dulle et al., 2017).

Hence, based on the review findings, this paper proposes a research framework, which is in line with RO theory (see Figure 5). The framework suggests that digitalization (for example, ICT infrastructure and ICT availability), and entrepreneurs’ critical literacies (IL and DL), necessitate changes in how entrepreneurs seek and access information (that is, entrepreneurs’ ISB), Nonetheless, we believe that the impact of this behavioral shift is directly related to increased uptake and use of digital information sources, which has an impact on how entrepreneurs go about identifying resources needed, orchestrating their resources, communicating within their networks about resources needed and making decisions about leveraging these to grow or achieve a competitive advantage. Studies of RO recognize the role of the managerial action in this process, and have examined the importance of entrepreneurial, political, and technological competencies, as of yet, the influence of digitization on the process is not well understood (Baert et al., 2016; Deligianni et al., 2019; Sirmon et al., 2011). The framework suggests that the combination of digitization, and critical literacies leads to a shift in entrepreneurs’ ISB and produces a distinct competence or strategic asset that leads to the adoption of digital information sources, which then influences the RO process and business growth, (see Figure 5).

Figure 5. Proposed research framework.

To justify the suggested framework’s essential parts and explain why they are necessary for entrepreneur and business growth, we argue that in an information-based society, critical literacies (both IL and DL) are required for accessing information and making sensible business decisions. Adequate, accurate, timely and appropriate information enables entrepreneurs to better understand their surroundings, allowing them to be more alert, be more prepared, and efficient while planning and implementing their business vision and strategies. Further, the ability of the entrepreneur to find, sort, and determine the reliability and usefulness of information without being overwhelmed is an increasingly important competence.

Moreover, in an ever-changing digital world, entrepreneurs are confronted with the greater uncertainty and obstacles (Samara & Terzian, 2021). The operation of entrepreneurial firms in the digital environment is described by dynamism, unpredictability, and complexity (Honig & Samuelsson, 2021). As a result, those who lack information and knowledge, as well as the competencies and skills to obtain information, may perceive increased risk and a less favorable assessment of business opportunities in this economic landscape.

To put it another way, the degree to which these competencies are unique to the company and how difficult they are to reproduce, results in a competitive advantage that can lead to growth. Respectively, the literature review results point to the link between business growth and the ongoing process of information and knowledge accumulation and unification in multidimensional domains, (for example, from technology, commerce, to management; Raymond et al., 2001; Savarese et al., 2016; Tuomisalo, 2019). It is also worth noting that the nature of digital information sources helps new ventures overcome their traditional barriers due to the resource constraints (Haase & Franco, 2011). Digital technologies appear to value market openness, which encourages the entry of new firms and their quick scale-up at a reduced cost. Meanwhile, we see the digital imprint on the digital information services revolution, which emphasizes users’ engagement and, in certain cases, blurs the lines between information producers and receivers, as the users become more proactive and engaged with information services (Meurer et al., 2021). They are no longer just the one-sided seekers, but also the givers through the development of information platforms like a virtual community of practice (Hafeez et al., 2019).

Finally, in addition to the general discussion on the digitalization in entrepreneurship and entrepreneurs’ ISB, the SLR results yielded three emerging and general areas of conversations (themes). We discovered that from 2014, entrepreneurship research has focused on digitalization, with most studies published in 2017–2018. The identified areas of conversations are interconnected and help to paint a picture of how digitalization and critical literacies (IL and DL) have impacted entrepreneurs’ ISB and consequently how this emerging phenomenon influences entrepreneurs’ adoption of digital information sources. The content analysis demonstrates the consistency among reviewed studies confirming that digital technologies and the development of digital information sources have caused a significant impact on personal growth as well as business growth.

We conclude that the embeddedness of entrepreneurs’ critical literacies, and ISB in general, and the use of digital information sources specifically, are significant outcomes of this review paper. In our present information-based age, both IL and DL are crucial abilities required for any type of business. These abilities foster entrepreneurs to utilize and benefit from business opportunities that emerged from digitalization and digital transformation. The possession of critical literacies enables entrepreneurs an advantage, resulting in increased productivity, and efficiency in personal and business growth. Entrepreneurs with an appropriate level of IL and DL are also more optimistic about incorporating technological advancements into their business plan, and they encourage their networks to follow likewise (Bolek et al., 2018; Erdogan et al., 2019; Oggero et al., 2020), which, by extension, might lead to more efficient and effective orchestration of resources.

Based on the discussions, and answers to the research question “How does digitization influence development of critical literacies and ISB of entrepreneurs, and how does ISB lead to development of competencies that can lead to better RO and growth?,” and the assessment of the literature review, which was consolidated into a lightweight theoretical framework, the following five theoretical propositions are offered:

Proposition 1: Increased digitization within an entrepreneurial business enables better orchestration of resources and will expand the entrepreneurs’ literacies and enable changes in the entrepreneurs’ ISB.

Proposition 2: Development of critical literacies (for example, IL and DL) as a ability will improve entrepreneurs’ capabilities for conducting effective and efficient information search, and have a more efficient resource orchestration process.

Proposition 3: Increased digitization leads to greater adoption of digital information sources.

Proposition 4: Inequalities of digitalization in rural areas will affect the selection and adoption of digital information sources and ultimately growth of ventures.

Proposition 5: Entrepreneurs adopting digital information sources will be more likely to enhance their personal development, and their firm’s resource orchestration.

Conclusion

This paper reviews the most relevant literature on the intersection of digitalization, entrepreneurs’ critical literacies, namely information literacy and digital literacy, and entrepreneurs’ information-seeking behavior (ISB). While we acknowledge that literature has considerably contributed to our understanding of digitalization in entrepreneurship (Kraus et al., 2018), the impact of literacies on the entrepreneurial activities (Ahmad et al., 2020), and entrepreneurs’ information search (Kaish & Gilad, 1991). Research falls short when the combination of these elements is concerned, and how they interact to effect competitive advantage, personal and business growth in a systematic manner.

This paper performs a systematic literature review to expand on digitization, critical literacies (IL and DL), and ISB as crucial resources, and to better characterize “digital technology” from the orchestration of resources standpoint. This research develops a research framework and proposes five propositions, through which threefold distinct contributions can be stated.

First, based on a SLR, and bibliometric analysis, we identify and provide an overview of three main areas of conversation: (i) digitalization and entrepreneurs’ ICT adoption, (ii) entrepreneurs and critical literacies, and (iii) entrepreneurs’ ISB. An evaluation of these research streams provides new insights on the research gap regarding entrepreneurs’ ISB and highlights future directions for study in this digital era, especially with regard to the intersections between these three elements in starting and growing a business. The findings show that due to digitalization, the entrepreneurship environment is rapidly changing, and entrepreneurship researchers appear to pay more attention to the latest advancements in this field.

Second, we argue that digitization and ICT adoption, critical literacies, and entrepreneurs’ ISB are linked to the RO process. Digitization influences how information is collected, and how new and existing ventures access sources of resources, evaluate and accumulate these. ICT adoption influences the ability of ventures to evaluate, optimize and deploy resources (structure and bundle) because they can do so more efficiently. This also influences communication processes (internally and externally), which can allow entrepreneurs and their ventures to leverage their capabilities more effectively. We suggest propositions and a framework that can open up new avenues for future research in order to expand our current understanding of digital entrepreneurship, entrepreneurs’ information needs, information seeking patterns, and business information services on a global scale. The proposed framework is holistic, in that sense, it gives an overview of the business environment (digital entrepreneurship), critical literacies, and what behavioral patterns are required of entrepreneurs in order to earn valuable and unique competencies that can help businesses to orchestrate their resources, gain a competitive advantage and grow. We found that the extent to which organizations expand their digitalization strategy and boost their use of digital information sources to access critical information has a direct impact on competitive advantage accomplishment, as well as entrepreneurs’ and businesses’ growth. Our findings also highlight a need for new theory development. Because such theoretical and practical understanding of information needs and information-seeking patterns will help us to design sustainable information delivery services to entrepreneurs (Chiware & Dick, 2008).

Third, the results indicate the need to pay more attention to nuances of the critical literacies and in particular, IL and DL. Critical literacies, and changes in entrepreneurs’ information behavior are necessary in the digital age, and these directly affect how entrepreneurs identify, evaluate information, and make decisions about structuring and bundling of resources. It has been argued that entrepreneurs facing resource constraints in some areas can achieve a competitive advantage by developing complementary resources in others (Sirmon et al., 2010); for example, by developing multiple literacies. This emphasizes, as Wright and Stigliani (2013, p. 11) stated, the need for resources to be viewed as bundles, and that different configurations of such may lead to competitive advantage – achieving competitive advantage implies a need for growth. This is in line with RO approach, which emphasize on the achievement of a competitive advantage rather than growth as such (Wright & Stigliani, 201; Brush et al., 2002).

Entrepreneurs must expand their literacies and adopt their information behavior to obtain a competitive advantage, make effective and efficient business decisions, and improve their capacity to adapt to a quickly changing business environment. These competencies tend to be distinctive to each venture making them difficult to imitate and therefore more valuable to a venture. This is especially important in the case of small businesses and start-ups, because most of their operations rely on small teams or solo entrepreneurs who must perform many tasks simultaneously, such as information seeking, using information, and making business decision. Thus, entrepreneurs empowered with higher levels of critical literacies are better able to deal with digital information sources, incomplete information, and other potential challenges associated with constructing information resource base and overcoming resource constraints in our contemporary information-based economy (Oggero et al., 2020). Based on the content analysis finding, there is a dearth of study on entrepreneurs’ ISB that considers entrepreneurs’ literacies. The reasons for this include a combination of unsystematic fragmented research and ignorance or underestimation of the topic’s relevance and significance in contemporary entrepreneurship study. This scarcity, on the one hand, creates a large scientific space for entrepreneurship researchers to draw on new theories, concepts, and methodologies to better map and understand the impact of digitalization on entrepreneurs’ ISB (Nikou et al., 2020). On the other hand, this suggests further research on how equipping entrepreneurs with critical literacies can help them grow their businesses (Ahmad et al., 2020; Sariwulan et al., 2020).

Finally, despite all the advantages and opportunities brought by digital transformation within digital entrepreneurship, entrepreneurs, in addition to the usual challenges, must cope with specific challenges and barriers. For example, while there is an unlimited amount of information accessed through digital platforms, all information and information sources are not reliable and useful. Therefore, it is necessary that entrepreneurs not only improve their literacies, but also empower themselves with digital competencies to deal with concepts such as information fatigue, information overload, information avoidance and probably fake news. Such ability and knowledge assist entrepreneurs in innovating and differentiating their businesses and coping with uncertainty. In this regard, Brundin and Gustafsson (2013), argue that new technological inventions might sometimes turn out as failures, while others may take unexpected directions. Other potential research that might explore the dark side of digitalization could be, for example, trust establishment, social hierarchies, or rather social inequalities (Reuschke et al., 2021; Samara & Terzian, 2021; Van Deursen et al., 2021). Therefore, it is increasingly important that entrepreneurs acquire new capabilities to cope with such incidents, if they occur, in the business environment (Kraus et al., 2018).

Limitations

Despite our cautions in conducting this research, there remain some limitations. First, though we have made extensive efforts in designing and implementing our SLR, we still might fail to capture all possibly relevant articles on this topic, particularly notable works in the entrepreneurial literature that looked at digitalization, entrepreneurs’ information behavior, and literacies in a fragmented way. Second, we acknowledge our subjectivity in the analysis and classification of the sample studies. Because of the focus on the studies that examined the role of critical literacies, investigations on other dimensions of the literacy (for example, financial and media) concept are not represented. We limit our search to three main databases, and to broaden the scope of the research, it is recommended that the search be expanded to include additional databases not used in this paper, as well as studies published in major entrepreneurship journals.

Practical implications

Digitalization in entrepreneurship has not only changed entrepreneurs’ information behaviors and activities, but also significantly changed the ways they search, evaluate, and use information. Taking this shift in habits into account, we revisited some of the key issues that are relevant and important for practitioners and policymakers. First of all, our findings confirm the necessity of digital information services for entrepreneurs. These services take the initiatives to form and enhance an “information-rich” environment for the entrepreneurs to form, grow, and sustain. As a result, we recommend that government agencies improve their digital information services offered to entrepreneurs in order to better support entrepreneurs in their business operations and raise their confidence in a competitive market. Information service providers should attempt to digitalize their services, as well as align their service design and delivery to match the objectives and expectations of business owners.

Second, information service providers should also be aware and understand the importance of digital technologies and encourage and motivate entrepreneurs to adopt digital information sources. One solution could be enhancing the interaction between the users and the service providers. In other words, entrepreneurs can get instant and friendly support from the service provider whenever they have a concern with the function of the service or need further information. Practitioners should consider the capability of their users when designing, implementing and developing their information services. The best services and innovations must be those that can increase the confidence of its users, not undermine it.

Given the significant impact of digitalization on the entrepreneurs’ information behavior, government and civil society will need to cooperate and address legal and ethical issues that might arise, including privacy, misleading information, information fraud, and surveillance issues for better adoption of technology (Petratos, 2021). In the digital-based economy, government plays a critical role in fostering a dynamic digital environment and an information-rich ecosystem (Xie et al., 2021). It is also important to note the role of critical literacies, and in particular, IL and DL in the adoption and use of digital information sources. Adequate training and education should be delivered to both entrepreneurs, and potential future entrepreneurs. Although different dimensions of literacies are being taught in schools, we propose more tailored programs to be provided, especially for entrepreneurs with low literacy levels. The reason is that once an entrepreneur enters the market, the competence requirements might dramatically change, especially in the ever-changing digital entrepreneurship environment. An entrepreneur must recognize the importance of literacies and take the effort to enhance their IL and DL on a regular basis to adapt to the changing environment and prepare for future changes.

Future research

The findings also provide important suggestions for future research direction, with the primary research focusing on digital information services and the need of equipping entrepreneurs with critical literacies. While we have argued that digitization, critical literacies, and ISB are linked, and influence the RO process, examination of the effects of these on aspects of structuring, bundling, and leveraging resources would be fruitful for future study. For example, how does ICT adoption influence RO and deployment? How does an entrepreneurs’ critical literacies influence the resource acquisition process? How does digitalization influence entrepreneurs’ information-seeking process with regard to resource identification and attraction? Similarly, other topics like environmental scanning, ICT adoption, and information access are likely to emerge in the future analysis of digital information sources and their usefulness to the entrepreneurs and their ventures.

Further research could also be done to investigate the integration of effective and efficient access, acquisition, and management of information from digital information sources as a part of their digitalization strategy. While implementing digital information sources, it will be necessary to consider the negative aspects, such as information quality, information overload (Karia et al., 2020), security, and ethical concerns. Researchers should investigate more about entrepreneurs’ ISB in order to evaluate how the changes in the information behavior will lead to increased adoption of digital information sources as well as personal growth and business growth. The review results indicate a need for more quantitative study with the focus on the aspects that influence entrepreneurs’ use of digital information sources. Furthermore, we recommend that researchers utilize the proposed research framework and propositions offered in this paper and perform longitudinal or intervention studies on entrepreneur’s literacies to establish the impact of evolving capability requirements.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

¹ https://www.vosviewer.com.

APPENDIX

Table

Authors and title	Journal /Publishing	Keywords	Empirical/Conceptual	Theoretical lens	Key concept
Nikou et al. (2020) Social-media and entrepreneurship: Exploring the role of digital source selection and information literacy.	In: Understanding Social Media and Entrepreneurship (eds Schjoedt, L., Brännback, M., Carsrud, A.)	Entrepreneurship, digital literacy, digital transformation, information literacy	Quantitative	Information literacy and digital literacy	Digital information source, information literacy, social media, entrepreneurship
Cao et al. (2019) Research on embedded information service model of university library under the environment of innovation and entrepreneurship.	Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research	Library, innovation and entrepreneurship service, China	Conceptual	No theory	Innovation and entrepreneurship, information resources
Sagarik et al. (2018) E-government 4.0 in Thailand: The role of central agencies.	Information Polity: The International Journal of Government & Democracy in the Information Age	Administrative reform, digital government e-government, Internet	Conceptual	No theory	Digital transformation, leadership roles, legislation, interoperability, employee capabilities, accountability, performance management
Yuldinawati et al. (2018) Exploring the Internet access of Indonesian SME entrepreneurs.	International Journal of Business	Developing countries, information access, Internet, entrepreneurship	Qualitative	Internet access (motivation, material, skills, and usage)	SME entrepreneurs’ Internet access, Internet information skills
Buwule and Mutula (2017) Research support services to small and medium enterprises by university libraries in Uganda: An entrepreneurial and innovation strategy.	South African Journal of Information Management	Information services, library, university library	Qualitative/document analysis	No theory	Entrepreneurship and innovation, information on research and innovation,
Guan et al. (2017) Problems and suggestions of rural information service platform construction in China.	Proceedings of the 2017, 2nd International Conference on Automation, Mechanical and Electrical Engineering	Information services, farmers, Internet, rural areas	Empirical/literature analysis	No theory	Construction of rural information service platform, entrepreneurship
Chen et al. (2016) Effect of digital transformation on organizational performance of SMEs: Evidence from the Taiwanese textile industry’s web portal.	Internet Research	SMEs, information distribution, information access, web portal	Qualitative and quantitative	RBV theory	Organizational performance, entrepreneurship
Jansen et al. (2010) Channel choice and source choice of entrepreneurs in a public organizational context: The Dutch case.	In: EGOV 2010 (eds Wimmer, M.A. et al.)	Information sources, Information Channels, Internet channel, entrepreneurs	Quantitative	Entrepreneurs’ digital skills and situational characteristics	Channel and source choice of entrepreneurs
Kassim (2010) Information needs of Malaysian Bumiputera would-be entrepreneurs.	Malaysian Journal of Library & Information Science	Business information, Information needs, Information sources. Bumiputera entrepreneurs, Malaysia	Quantitative	No theory	Entrepreneurs’ information needs, information source, entrepreneurship
Song et al. (2006) Research on information service system for high-tech SMEs.	IEEE International Conference on Service Operations and Logistics, and Informatics	High-tech SMEs, information services, e-services	Conceptual	No theory	SMEs’ information service, Information service system, entrepreneurship
Shoham et al. (2006) An exploratory study of Israeli start-up entrepreneur usage of the Internet.	Journal of Information Science	Information sources, entrepreneurs, Israel	Quantitative	Theory of alertness	Source of information, Internet usage, entrepreneurship
Bouthillier (2003) Access to information for small business managers: Examination of some strategies and values.	Canadian Journal of Information & Library Sciences	Information access, library, entrepreneurs, SMEs, environmental scanning, Canada	Quantitative	Information behavior	Information, information needs, information service, information seeking behavior
Pieska (1993) Value-added information-services for small and medium-sized enterprises.	Electronic Library	Information service, Finland, SMEs	Conceptual	No theory	Information services, entrepreneurship
Kulathunga et al. (2020): How does technological and financial literacy influence SME performance: Mediating role of ERM practices.	Information (MDPI)	Technological literacy; financial literacy; SME performance; enterprise risk management (ERM) practices	Quantitative	Knowledge-based view	SME performance, literacy
Oggero et al. (2020) Entrepreneurial spirits in women and men. The role of financial literacy and digital skills.	Small Business Economics	Digital literacy, entrepreneurial intention, financial literacy	Quantitative	Entrepreneurial intention	Digital skills, literacy
Ahmad et al. (2020) The impact of workplace information literacy on organizational innovation: An empirical study.	International Journal of Information Management	Information literacy, Innovation, CEO, SMEs	Quantitative	Information literacy	Information literacy, innovation
Omiunu (2019) E-literacy-adoption model and performance of women-owned SMEs in Southwestern Nigeria.	Journal of Global Entrepreneurship Research	E-literacy-adoption, SMEs’ Performance. Women entrepreneurs	Quantitative	e-literacy	Business performance, literacy
Erdogan et al. (2019) The relationship between lifelong learning trends, digital literacy levels and usage of web 2.0 tools with social entrepreneurship characteristics.	Croatian Journal of Education	Digital literacy; lifelong learning; social entrepreneurship; Web 2.0.	Quantitative	Social entrepreneurship	Social entrepreneurship, digital literacy
Bolek et al. (2018) Information literacy of managers: models and factors.	Journal of Business Economics and Management	Digital literacy, information literacy, managers, lifelong learning, digital competencies, digital skills	Quantitative	Literacy	Information literacy, digital literacy
Jasiewicz et al. (2018) Complex and multivariable: Methodology of exploring digital literacy and training needs within the Polish SME sector.	Information Literacy in the Workplace	Digital literacy, Information literacy, SMEs	Qualitative/interview	Information literacy	Digital competences
Sayyad Abdi et al. (2016) Web designers and developers experiences of information literacy: A phenomenographic study	Library & Information Science Research	Web designers, developers, information literacy, web professionals	Qualitative/interview	Information literacy	Workplace information literacy
De Saulles (2007) Information literacy amongst UK SMEs: an information policy gap.	Aslib Proceedings	Information strategy, Research, Internet, small to medium-sized enterprises, United Kingdom, United States of America	Quantitative	Information literacy	Information access, SMEs Internet usage, information policy
Tuomisalo (2019) Emergence of an entrepreneurial opportunity: A case within a Finnish telecommunication international new venture.	Journal of International Entrepreneurship	Opportunity recognition, information-seeking behavior, multinational enterprises, new venture creation, entrepreneurial characteristics	Qualitative and interpretive method	Strategic orientation	Entrepreneurial opportunity recognition
Zamani and Mohammadi (2018) Entrepreneurial learning as experienced by agricultural graduate entrepreneurs.	Higher Education	Information sources, agricultural entrepreneurs, entrepreneurial journeys, online information sources	Qualitative and quantitative	Social learning theory	Entrepreneurial learning, information source
Dulle et al. (2017) Capacity building modules for public libraries to support small-scale business enterprises in Meru County, Kenya.	South African Journal of Library and Information Science	Information skills, information access, entrepreneurial competences, entrepreneurial training/education	Qualitative and quantitative	Economic theory of entrepreneurship	Business information literacy, technology competency, nature of information
Kubata and Simek (2016) Identification of business informatics specifics in agricultural enterprise.	AGRIS on-line Papers in Economics and Informatics	Business informatics, information, information systems, agriculture, farm	Conceptual, exploratory analysis	No theory	Digital literacy, business informatics
Savarese et al. (2016) New venture high growth in high-tech environments.	European Planning Studies	Entrepreneurs, high-growth, Italy, high-tech environment, information sources access, key growth factors	Qualitative, interview	SMEs growth	Dynamic capabilities, information sources, entrepreneurial skills and abilities
Hafeez et al. (2019) Knowledge sharing by entrepreneurs in a virtual community of practice.	Information Technology & People	Communities of practice, discourse analysis, virtual community, shared knowledge, knowledge-based community	Qualitative/case study	No theory	Knowledge sharing, virtual community of practice (VCoP)
Molnár and Bernat (2007) Enhancing competitiveness of innovative SME through knowledge system using competitive intelligence: case business Cluster Omni pack.	7th International Conference on Strategic Management and Its Support by Information Systems	ICT strategy, information access, entrepreneurship, SMEs, internationalization	Qualitative	Information literacy	Information access, competitive intelligence
Haase and Franco (2011) Information sources for environmental scanning: do industry and firm size matter?	Management Decision	Environmental scanning, Information sources, Industry, Firm size, Portugal, Knowledge transfer, Information management	Quantitative	Information scanning sources	Information sources, knowledge transfer
Othman et al. (2011) Environmental Scanning Practice of Enterprise 50: Small Medium Enterprise (E50 SMEs) in Malaysia.	Proceedings of the 5th European Conference on Information Management and Evaluation	Environmental scanning, information sources, small medium enterprise	Quantitative	Information seeking behavior	Environmental scanning, information sources
Jorosi (2008) Environmental scanning in Botswana’s SMEs: A Study of the Manufacturing Industry.	LIBRI	Entrepreneurship, environmental scanning, information sources, CEOs, Sub- Saharan Africa	Quantitative	No theory	Environmental scanning, scanning behavior, sources of information
Raymond et al. (2001) Technological scanning by small Canadian manufacturers.	Journal of Small Business Management	Technological scanning, entrepreneurs, information sources, information need, Canada	Quantitative	technological scanning in SMEs	Scanning objectives, type of information, information sources,
Auster and Choo (1994) How senior managers acquire and use information in environmental scanning.	Information Processing & Management	SMEs, managers, information scanning, publishing and telecommunications industry, information use	Quantitative	Environmental scanning	Information access and use, decision making
Zhang et al. (2010) The role of information literacy in environmental scanning as a strategic information system – a study of Singapore SMEs.	Technological Convergence and Social Networks in Information Management	Information literacy, environmental scanning, strategic information, SME Singapore	Quantitative and qualitative	Environmental scanning	Information literacy
Sahut et al. (2019) The age of digital entrepreneurship.	Small Business Economics	Digital information, digital entrepreneurs, digital technologies	Qualitative	Digital information processing	Digital entrepreneurship, digital entrepreneurs
Eze et al. (2018) Key success factors influencing SME managers’ information behavior on emerging ICT (EICT) adoption decision-making in UK SMEs.	The Bottom Line	SMEs, Information behavior, emerging information, and communication technology (EICT), Adoption decisions-making, SME managers, TOE framework	Qualitative	Information behavior	Perceived information need, information gathering
Jaska and Werenowska (2018) The availability and use of media information sources in rural areas.	Economic Science for Rural – Development Conference Proceedings	Media information sources, farmer, rural areas, Internet	Quantitative	No theory	Use of media information sources, use of ICTs
Zaremohzzabieh et al. (2016) Information and communications technology acceptance by youth entrepreneurs in rural Malaysian communities: The mediating effects of attitude and entrepreneurial intention.	Information Technology for Development	Youth entrepreneurship, ICT acceptance, technology acceptance model (TAM), information access, Malaysia	Quantitative	Technology acceptance model	ICT acceptance, entrepreneurial intention,