Abstract:
As organisations find themselves in an environment of uncertainty and increased levels
of competition, the rapid changes in technology has resulted in the availability of more
data than ever before. The advent of big data has provided firms with the opportunity to
take advantage of the increased volume, variety, velocity and veracity of data, allowing
for increased levels of innovation, proactivity and risk-taking and a culture of evidencebased
decision-making.
Although, the challenge remains that organisations are still struggling to successfully
extract value from their data. This research aimed to understand if organisations can
become more entrepreneurial and achieve a culture of evidence-based decisionmaking
by leveraging big data for strategic decision-making. A quantitative study was
used to measure the relationship between big data, evidence-based decision-making
and entrepreneurial orientation using multivariate data analysis.
The results reported statistically significant positive correlations between big data and
both evidence-based decision-making and entrepreneurial orientation. Furthermore,
big data skills was reported as a significant predictor of both entrepreneurial orientation
and evidence-based decision-making. These findings provide empirical evidence and
guidance for both academics and business practitioners on the importance of skills and
how organisations can leverage big data to become more entrepreneurial and drive an
evidence-based decision-making culture.
