Hedonic motivations and learning: Evidence from managers’ information acquisition in the cannabis industry

Abstract

Using direct measures of information acquisition from a business intelligence provider in the cannabis industry, we examine the actions managers take to learn about their retail stores. We find that managers adopt the business intelligence service due to business complexity and growth expectations, and, after adoption, managers become heavy consumers of financial and related nonfinancial metrics. Within this context, we find evidence most easily explained by the idea that the hedonic motivations of managers affect their information diet. Managers are more likely to acquire information about past store and product performance if they expect it to be positive and revisit this information more if it actually is positive. Collectively, our results provide direct evidence on small business managers’ consumption of performance metrics and suggest that hedonic motivations are an important determinant of information acquisition. Our results also inform the design and use of increasingly pervasive data products such as dashboards.

Keywords: Hedonic motivations; information acquisition; managerial learning.

JEL Classification: M41, G31, G40