Title: Information technology investments versus the illusion of control bias

Authors: Rodrigo Fernandes Malaquias; Alberto Luiz Albertin

Addresses: School of Business Administration of São Paulo, Getulio Vargas Foundation, Brazil; Faculty of Management and Business, Federal University of Uberlândia, Brazil ' School of Business Administration of São Paulo, Getulio Vargas Foundation, Brazil

Abstract: The literature indicates that the characteristics of managers, including behavioural biases, affect corporate investment/financing decisions. In this paper, we analyse a specific bias that, up to the best of our knowledge, has not been addressed in the context of information technology (IT) investments, which is the illusion of control bias. We develop the argument that managers' illusion of control negatively affects the investments in IT made by firms they manage. Through a case study, the results of this paper indicate that behavioural biases of small firms' managers are related with an illusion of control, which can affect decisions on IT investments. These results have important implications for owners/managers of small firms, especially for those firms from emerging economies.

Keywords: Latin America; development; technology acceptance; small business; Brazil; decision-making on IT; organisational performance; corporate decisions; competitive advantage; emerging markets; business information systems; illusion of control.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBIS.2019.103794

International Journal of Business Information Systems, 2019 Vol.32 No.4, pp.507 - 521

Received: 26 Apr 2017
Accepted: 10 Feb 2018
Published online: 29 Nov 2019 *

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