Entrepreneurs’ impatience and digital technologies

S. Basiglio (), A. Ricci () and M. Rossi ()
Additional contact information
S. Basiglio: Università Degli Studi Di Bari Aldo Moro, Largo Abbazia S. Scolastica
A. Ricci: National Institute for the Analysis of Public Policies
M. Rossi: University of Turin

Small Business Economics, 2025, vol. 64, issue 4, No 19, 2035-2060

Abstract: Abstract This paper analyzes the impact of entrepreneurs’ preferences (impatience and risk attitudes) on firms’ propensity to invest in both general and digital technologies. Using data from the Rilevazione su Imprese e Lavoro (RIL) survey, conducted on a representative sample of Italian firms, we find that impatience significantly reduces the likelihood of adopting digital investments, even when controlling for risk preferences. To address potential endogeneity and simultaneity concerns, we implement an instrumental variable (IV) strategy, exploiting exogenous variation from exposure to earthquakes. The findings remain robust and highlight the crucial role of impatience in shaping investment decisions, particularly in digital technologies.

Keywords: Time preferences; Risk; Investments; Digital technologies (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D22 D25 D91 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11187-024-00974-4 Abstract (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:kap:sbusec:v:64:y:2025:i:4:d:10.1007_s11187-024-00974-4

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer. ... 29/journal/11187/PS2

DOI: 10.1007/s11187-024-00974-4

Access Statistics for this article

Small Business Economics is currently edited by Zoltan J. Acs and David B. Audretsch

More articles in Small Business Economics from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().