Big Data: A Normal Accident Waiting to Happen?

Abstract

Widespread commercial use of the internet has significantly increased the volume and scope of data being collected by organisations. 'Big data' has emerged as a term to encapsulate both the technical and commercial aspects of this growing data collection activity. To date, much of the discussion of big data has centred upon its transformational potential for innovation and efficiency, yet there has been less reflection on its wider implications beyond commercial value creation. This paper builds upon normal accident theory (NAT) to analyse the broader ethical implications of big data. It argues that the strategies behind big data require organisational systems that leave them vulnerable to normal accidents, that is to say some form of accident or disaster that is both unanticipated and inevitable. Whilst NAT has previously focused on the consequences of physical accidents, this paper suggests a new form of system accident that we label data accidents. These have distinct, less tangible and more complex characteristics and raise significant questions over the role of individual privacy in a 'data society'. The paper concludes by considering the ways in which the risks of such data accidents might be managed or mitigated.

Developing human resource data risk management in the age of big data

“…To date, theoretical development of the ethical issues surrounding big data and organisations has been largely neglected (Nunan & Di Domenico, 2015). Nevertheless, a number of frameworks and theoretical starting points exist that may be instructive for researchers and practitioners, and are developed further here accordingly.…”

“…Normal accident theory (NAT; Perrow, 1984) is a conceptual framework we wish to draw on in the context of risk management. The focus of this framework is not on risk prevention; rather it deals with and is applied to the outcomes of 'data accidents', a phrase coined by Nunan and Di Domenico (2015) that extends NAT to reflect the heightened levels of complexity, tight coupling and catastrophic potential of big data ecosystems.…”

“…The 'system' here concerns the distribution and storage of big data, which may be enabled by multiple entities internal and external to the organisation, as well as various technologies. Nunan and Di Domenico (2015) therefore explicitly emphasize the importance of more proactive, careful design of data management mechanisms within organisations: "the ethical issues with big data lie not so much with its collection but with the weaknesses in organisational processes and systems that enable it" (Nunan & Di Domenico, 2015, p. 10).…”

“…At the most ambitious societal level of application, big data has been considered as a means for: learning how communities, governments and regions develop (Kshetri, 2014), studying political communication and citizenship participation (Gil de Zuniga & Diehl, 2017), and driving or improving commercial successes (e.g. Nunan & Di Domenico, 2015). At an organisational level, employers are promised novel insights and solutions that might enable them to identify measurable ways of improving financial and employee outcomes (Bania, 2015).…”

Epistemic Vices in Organizations: Knowledge, Truth, and Unethical Conduct

“…Aspects of the Internet, big data, and social media may exacerbate certain forms of epistemic vice, leading to novel forms of epistemological chaos or crisis (e.g., Nunan and Di Domenico 2017). Dennett and Roy (2015), for example, have argued that the radical transparency of the Internet and related developments will create evolutionary pressures on organizational forms to evolve newly sophisticated ways of detecting and obfuscating knowledge and credibility.…”