Konsten att förmedla finansiell kompetens genom förtroendeskapande kommunikation : En kvalitativ studie om att erhålla extern finansiering

Sammanfattning: Each year, millions of small businesses are established, and individuals that engage in entrepreneurial activities continue to increase significantly. In order for small businesses to be able to grow, external financing is required. Previous research has primarily focused on how financial literacy impacts performance and enables access to finance. This study intends to develop Maxwell and Lévesque's (2014) reasoning about trustworthiness. This paper aims to investigate how entrepreneurs generate trust through their financial literacy in regard to capital contribution. The findings intend to develop a framework for how businesses can nurture trustful communication with the financier and increase their opportunity for financing. Subsequently, this paper has, in detail, explored how entrepreneurs in small businesses, in Sweden, have communicated their financial literacy in connection with capital contribution.   The qualitative methodological reasoning has, in extension of being interpretative, emanated from an inductive nature, to foster the respondent’s experience. The empirical data includes interviews with respondents consisting of 13 entrepreneurs from 11 small Swedish businesses. To fulfill the purpose of this paper, previous research in the field has been collected to, among other, conform the study's self-constructed analysis model which was united with qualitative thematic content analysis to enable a framework for trustful communication.   The result of this paper shows that in the process of conveying entrepreneurs' financial literacy, two main themes, based on time, was identified. Before the meeting and during the meeting with the financier. The majority of the entrepreneurs experience difficulties obtaining the necessary capital, and the relationship with the financier is critical for the company's growth. Before the meeting, the preparatory activities, such as the composition of the team and pitch deck, are of great importance to increase legitimacy and trustworthiness. During the meeting, the entrepreneur can instead focus on generating a successful presentation, a compelling story containing financial information, the business journey, and the team. The study also reveals the importance of having a financier’s orientation, meaning an understanding of the financier and their preferences. Based on this research, we provide guidance for small business entrepreneurs and contribute with a framework, facilitating the financing process by emphasizing how financial literacy can be conveyed. Furthermore, the result makes it possible to distinguish which trust behaviors are the most prevalent before and during the meeting with the financier. Lastly, the signaling theory is not considered sufficient to create an understanding of the financing decision.