Enabling firm performance through data driven decision making in maintenance management : a dynamic capabilities view

Abstract

Maintenance management is seen as a “necessary evil”, rather than a profit contributing resource that could intensify competitive advantage for the organisation. With the world facing the fourth industrial revolution, a radical increase in the reshaping of companies and competition within asset intensive industries is being observed. Organisations in these industries are being forced to rethink traditional ways of working and gearing the workforce with higher and more diversified competency profiles. This suggests that the traditional way of executing maintenance management, being predominantly reactive with the lack of data driven decision making, is certainly inadequate for a sustainable competitive advantage. An improved way of managing maintenance should be through developing and applying dynamic capabilities within the maintenance domain of the organisation. This research draws on theories of dynamic capabilities (DC), decision making performance (DMP), business process performance (BPP) and firm performance (Fper), in the context of data driven decision making in organisations heavily reliant on good maintenance management practices. The aim of this study was to explore and understand the relationships between these constructs, for insight into further improvement and development of a competitive advantage. The findings presented a statistically significant relationship between DC and Fper, DC and BPP, DC and DMP, but most importantly, a multiple full indirect mediation role was observed, which provides insights for both business and for further studies in academia.