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.

@en

In the digital-based economy, digitalisation, entrepreneurial networks, and business strategy are three important interdependent components of entrepreneurship process. Accurate, reliable, and timely information is also vital to effective decision-making of the entrepreneurs. Often, owing to limitations in their resources and capabilities, entrepreneurs rely on their entrepreneurial networks to satisfy their information need. The core objective of this paper is to examine the use of information in business strategy development and assess the role of entrepreneurial networks as information sources. The theoretical lens used in this narrative literature review is media richness theory. The findings of this paper show that entrepreneurial networks significantly influence entrepreneurial success and survival, and that access to accurate and timely information enhances business strategy development.

@en

A narrative review of the literature on the importance of affective factors in the information retrieval (IR) behaviours of entrepreneurs is presented in this paper. Through the lens of Media Richness Theory, we examine the importance of the richness of information and medium to the success of the IR process. The results show that IR system does not only serve entrepreneurs regarding their information needs but also their emotional needs. The richness of the IR system, referring to the accessibility, is an essential factor for entrepreneurs' preference and use of the IR medium. This paper contributes to literature by showing how affective attributes are associated with other factors, in addition to their effect on the IR behaviours. The findings reveal that the affective characteristics are both an individual need and a determining component in the process.@en

Digitalisation and its impact on businesses - including access to information through digital sources - have been rapidly recognised from different research disciplines. Digitalisation helps entrepreneurs to gather and manage information, to create intensive resources, to reduce transaction costs, and to gain rapid access to the flow of information. A growing demand and use of digital information sources, especially in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. indicate a need for further investigation of the effect of digitalisation on changing and transforming entrepreneurs' information-seeking behaviours (ISBs), opportunities, and challenges. Furthermore, the concept of critical -21st-century skills has been found to be crucial to the effectiveness of digital transformation in the entrepreneurship field. From this perspective, this paper carries out a systematic literature review on the research conducted on digitalisation and entrepreneurs' information-seeking behaviours. Through this systematic literature review, this paper seeks answers to two objectives: (i) to review previous studies on digitalisation and ISBs within the entrepreneurship literature and on understanding the relation between these two concepts, and (ii) to assess the role of critical -21st-century skills on entrepreneurs' decision regarding information source selection. The review was conducted in three main phases: planning the review, conducting the review, and reporting the review. In the first step, we defined the inclusion and exclusion criteria. With the specific search terms, the selection included academic English publications for the period 1990-2020. Based on the criteria, three main databases - Web of Science, Scopus, and Ebsco - were searched, and in total 745 publications were retrieved. After removing duplicate and irrelevant articles, the final dataset included 39 articles. We then reviewed the articles and classified them into five main themes for further analysis. The themes were (i) entrepreneurs' information sources/services, (ii) entrepreneurs' -21st-century skills, (iii) entrepreneurs' access to information, (iv) entrepreneurs' environmental scanning, and (v) the ICT adoption behaviours of entrepreneurs. A future research agenda is also provided.@en

Trust has been a vital research topic in entrepreneurship research. Many researchers argue that trust gives the entrepreneurs legitimacy within the market, and it is considered as a factor for information behaviours. Meanwhile, respect is also mentioned as a fundamental for trust and a necessity for building entrepreneurial networks. Despite their significance and relevance, there is still a limited study focusing on the role of trust and respect in entrepreneurs’ information-seeking behaviour research. This paper, therefore, draws attention to this gap and strives to investigate how these two concepts impact entrepreneurs’ information-seeking behaviour. The results show that trust and respect are two fundamental aspects that influence entrepreneurs’ preference for information source selection. Furthermore, the findings show that both trust and respect act as a predominant factor for entrepreneurs to build and advance their relationships. Theoretical and practical implications and recommendations for future studies are discussed.

@en

In an information-based society, having accurate and timely information can influence the success of entrepreneurs in their business. Often, due to limitations in their resources and capabilities, entrepreneurs rely on their social capital to satisfy their information need. Moreover, trust and respect are two fundamental factors that not only influence the information seeking behaviour (ISB) but also the inter-actions within the social capital of an entrepreneur. However, despite the significance and relevance of these concepts, there is a lack of systematic reviews regarding the nexus between trust and respect in entrepreneurs’ ISB. Consequently, this study aimed to conduct a literature review on the ISB of entrepreneurs with an emphasis on the roles trust and respect play in their decision-making when viewed through the lens of social capital theory (SCT). The review findings indicated that both trust and respect influence entrepreneurs’ ISB, especially in their decision-making in selecting their information sources. Entrepreneurs select in-formation sources that they trust, respect and feel respected by in return. The influence of trust and respect in entrepreneurial information source selection is also related to the seeker’s perception of the social cost/risk. Lastly, the review findings showed that when viewed through the lens of SCT, respect plays a key role in forming and nurturing trust within relationships. Based on the review findings, we also point out the gaps in the current entrepreneurship literature and suggest a number of themes for future research.

@en