Abstract:

Although the theory about IT adoption in organizations is mature, there is little evidence that it is applied in SMEs. Perhaps one reason is that much of the research is developed using a positivist approach. We applied action-research with two objectives: (a) researching about the IT problems that affect to SMEs, and (b) contributing to the information system research by applying a methodological paradigm little explored. The research was applied to nine companies in three different countries. The results showed that there were two main types of IT problem inside SMEs: non-existent systems and inefficient use of existing ones. Action-research proved to be an useful methodology both for system researchers and the organizations.