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In the traditional, profit-driven model of business, money does, by definition, equal happiness. But as the focus for many organizations expands beyond profits to include a host of other factors (e.g., their environmental and social impacts), a satisfied workforce becomes a more reliable indicator of organizational well-being, and an important means to achieving true triple-bottom-line success. Employee happiness surveys have grown in popularity since the rise of such assessments on a larger scale; countries including Bhutan, France and the UK have adopted a “happiness index” as an alternative prosperity measure to GDP, using the findings to help inform future policy. Applying this methodology to business, more and more organizations - including companies such as Zappos and Nestlé Purina - are correlating employee well-being levels to productivity, which in turn informs profitability.

Based on theories from the technological innovation literature, this study develops an integrated model of information systems (IS) adoption in small businesses. The model specifies contextual variables such as decision-maker characteristics, IS characteristics, organizational characteristics, and environmental characteristics as primary determinants of IS adoption in small businesses. A questionnaire survey was conducted in 166 small businesses. Data analysis shows that small businesses with certain CEO characteristics (innovativeness and level of IS knowledge), innovation characteristics (relative advantage, compatibility, and complexity of IS), and organizational characteristics (business size and level of employees' IS knowledge) are more likely to adopt IS. While CEO and innovation characteristics are important determinants of the decision to adopt, they do not affect the extent of IS adoption. The extent of IS adoption is mainly determined by organizational characteristics. Finally, the environmental characteristic of competition has no direct effect on small business adoption of IS.