The impact of managers’ attitudes on SMEs’ growth in northern Sweden

Journal article, 2013

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the link between managers’ attitudes towards growth and consecutive realized growth. Design/methodology/approach – A questionnaire to 4573 SMEs (35 % response rate) was used to measure growth attitudes. Realized growth was measured using four years of annual report data (2-year pre survey and 2-year post survey). Findings – Our findings provide indications that managers’ attitudes towards growth have a positive relationship to actual growth outcomes. Our results also show that zero-growth firms are different from both positive- and negative- growth firms with regard to attitude towards growth. Research limitations/implications – This study suggests that attitudes are a factor to consider when trying to stimulate growth and that it is important to consider zero-growth firm different nature. Our longitudinal approach overcomes some of the limitation of previous (cross-section) research in the area. Future research could also expand the analysis over a longer period and covering other cultural settings. Originality/value – Our analysis of the relationship between attitudes towards growth and actual outcomes extends the earlier work on the relationship between attitudes and intentions to grow. Furthermore, this paper advances the development of appropriate measurements for analyses of growth and attitudes to growth.