The usage of total knowledge by entrepreneurs in business decision-making

Introduction: This paper proposes the identification of those attributes of knowledge that entrepreneurs consider most important in the process of making their business decisions. Methodology: This main objective is finally described by obtaining a ranking, which, through the application of the analytic hierarchy process (AHP), will allow them to establish their priorities with respect to these attributes through a multi-criteria decision process. In order to obtain this priority ranking, a survey with a sample of 362 valid entrepreneurs’ responses in the Spanish metropolitan regions of Madrid and Barcelona was conducted. Furthermore, data validation was supervised by a panel of experts formed with 40 entrepreneurs. Results: The results of this research indicate that explicit and tacit knowledge form the same unit of knowledge necessary for decision making, instead of the weight that one dimension may have over the other one in the decisions of the entrepreneurs surveyed. Discussions: The ranking obtained will serve as a basis for the implementation of future specific proposals to this group. Conclusions: This research could be extrapolated to other geographical areas or types of entrepreneurs in different countries to obtain possible differences between entrepreneurial cultures. This also could identificate differences between professionals with different levels of training.