Information sources and their relationship to organizational innovation in small businesses

Questionnaire data from 1,582 employees in 27 firms were analyzed using MANOVA and multiple regression to relate information sources to innovation activity in small businesses. Results show that: 1. Employees at all organizational levels are involved in innovation activities to varying degrees. 2. Employees at all levels utilized a variety of ideal sources and have similar perceptions of the relative importance of these sources. 3. The relationship between ideal sources and innovation activities differs across organizational levels. There is a need for all employees to be considered in idea source research, a need for managers to better integrate administrative and operational level employees into the innovation process, and a need to better utilize information gained from various sources.