A new theoretical understanding of big data analytics capabilities in organizations: a thematic analysis

Abstract

Big Data Analytics (BDA) usage in the industry has been increased markedly in recent years. As a data-driven tool to facilitate informed decision-making, the need for BDA capability in organizations is recognized, but few studies have communicated an understanding of BDA capabilities in a way that can enhance our theoretical knowledge of using BDA in the organizational domain. Big Data has been defined in various ways and, the past literature about the classification of BDA and its capabilities is explored in this research. We conducted a literature review using PRISMA methodology and integrated a thematic analysis using NVIVO12. By adopting five steps of the PRISMA framework—70 sample articles, we generate five themes, which are informed through organization development theory, and develop a novel empirical research model, which we submit for validity assessment. Our findings improve effectiveness and enhance the usage of BDA applications in various Organizations.

Leveraging data-driven decisions: a framework for building intracompany capability for supply chain optimization and resilience

“…Without a strategy of how to use data as a means of creating company value, it results in nothing more than mountains of expensive data. BD can be a valuable resource if a company is able to develop a means to extract the value residing in the data, such as with BDA (Sabharwal and Miah, 2021; Sharma et al , 2014).…”

“…Data-driven capability building has been explored across a SC, but little research exists on how to build intracompany capability (Munir et al , 2020), which presents a research opportunity. To start, a company must have a framework for absorbing and exploiting the knowledge gained from external sources (Munir et al , 2020; Sabharwal and Miah, 2021). In addition, the ability to exploit knowledge from data acquired from external sources in the oil and gas industry required employees to have tacit experience (Sumbal et al , 2017).…”

“…RBV can be used to explain how companies that capture BD and develop a means to exploit it may create value so long as that value exceeds the cost to collect, manage and analyze it (Cappa et al , 2021). In a literature review focusing on BDAC, it was found there is limited research (Sabharwal and Miah, 2021). For example, only 7% of the articles they reviewed focused on company proficiency (versus BD proficiency) (Sabharwal and Miah, 2021).…”

“…Factors which may influence firm performance include individuals with their technical knowledge and capability along with company aspects such as top management support, the culture and the infrastructure, however this requires validation (Maroufkhani et al , 2019). BDA capabilities (BDAC) is defined as “the combined ability to store, process and analyze large amounts of data to provide meaningful information to users” (p. 9) (Sabharwal and Miah, 2021). A literature review of BDAC found no literature has combined BDA with organizational development (Sabharwal and Miah, 2021).…”

“…BDA capabilities (BDAC) is defined as “the combined ability to store, process and analyze large amounts of data to provide meaningful information to users” (p. 9) (Sabharwal and Miah, 2021). A literature review of BDAC found no literature has combined BDA with organizational development (Sabharwal and Miah, 2021). To develop capabilities, they suggest tangible (data, technology, resources), intangible (data-driven culture, intensity of organizational learning) along with a human component (people’s technical skills, management).…”