AI & Small Business Decision Making
Studying how small businesses actually use AI tools to make decisions.
Research Project
IN PROGRESSResearch Overview
An applied research project studying how small business owners in India incorporate AI-generated suggestions into everyday operating decisions, from pricing to inventory to staffing.
Research Question
When small business owners are offered an AI-generated recommendation, what makes them trust it, ignore it, or act on it only partially?
Methodology
Semi-structured interviews with small business owners across retail, food service and personal services, paired with a short review of the AI tools they currently use, if any.
Findings
Data collection is still underway; findings will be published here once analysis is complete.
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JORA Nugget™
A little knowledge check.
Today’s Question
What term describes an AI system stating a confident but factually incorrect answer?
A hallucination.
JORA GOSSIP™ · AI
What’s happening around AI & Small Business Decision Making?
17 AUG 2026
JORA GOSSIP™ Edition
New Research
- A recently published multi-country study examined how small business owners weigh AI-generated recommendations against their own judgment, finding trust varies significantly by decision type.
Related Papers
- A working paper on small-business technology adoption patterns in South Asia was circulated this month, useful background for the methodology section.
Conferences / Opportunities
- A regional applied-AI research conference has opened its call for student papers, with a submission deadline in October.
Field Developments
- More business-school research groups are turning attention to how small business owners use everyday AI tools, rather than focusing only on large-enterprise adoption.
JORA Insight
The multi-country trust study sits close enough to this project's own research question that it is worth citing directly in the literature review, with an early note on how this project's approach differs.
Sources
Updated17 Aug 2026 · 07:00 IST
10 AUG 2026
JORA GOSSIP™ Edition
Related Papers
- A smaller regional study on shopkeeper attitudes toward digital tools was published, offering a useful comparison point for the interview phase.
Conferences / Opportunities
- A university-hosted research symposium has confirmed dates for December, with an early-bird submission deadline in October.
Field Developments
- Interview-based, qualitative approaches are increasingly common in this research area, alongside the more common large-dataset studies.
JORA Insight
Given the qualitative interview approach already in progress, the December symposium's stated interest in field-based studies makes it a strong potential venue once data collection wraps up.
Sources
Updated10 Aug 2026 · 07:00 IST
03 AUG 2026
JORA GOSSIP™ Edition
New Research
- A preprint examining small business owners' comfort with AI-generated financial suggestions was shared this week, directly adjacent to this project's decision-making focus.
Field Developments
- Discussion around defining what counts as "AI-assisted" versus "AI-generated" decision-making continues among researchers in this area, without full consensus yet.
JORA Insight
Being explicit and consistent about how this project defines "AI-assisted decision-making" in the methodology will help position the eventual findings against this ongoing definitional debate.
Sources
Updated03 Aug 2026 · 07:00 IST
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