Leveraging big data for strategic decision-making

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.