Intuitive Decision Making in Times of Crisis: Results From a Study of Resilience in Swedish Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs)

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to understand how small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) use intuitive decision-making in times of crisis. The study was conducted among retailing SMEs in Sweden. In total, 28 store managers were interviewed in 2021, while the COVID-19 pandemic was still ongoing. Thus, the COVID-19 pandemic forms an important context for this paper. Theoretically, the paper draws on intuitive decision-making, complemented by literature on crisis and organisational resilience (OR). The study finds that intuitive decision-making was common, particularly at the beginning of the pandemic—with store managers employing creative and problem-solving approaches to intuitive decision-making. The study thereby contributes to research on intuitive decision-making in a crisis context as well as to an understanding of the resilience of stores.