Information Acquisition Activities: A Study of Global Start-up Exporting Companies

In this study, the author investigates the antecedents of information search effort and information source use and the implications of firms' information acquisition activities on export performance. The author examines four major sets of variables to understand their impact on firms' information search effort and the use of personal, quasi-government, and documented sources. These variables are information source characteristics, firm strategic orientation, environmental characteristics, and organizational characteristics. Empirical results based on a survey of U.S. exporting firms provide mixed support for these factors in predicting firms' information search effort and information source use. Findings on firm performance support the notion that firms that engage in greater information search and those that rely on personal and quasi-government information sources tend to have higher performance levels.