Diffusion of data governance and data-driven decision making

Abstract

The amount data generated and collected by organisations is growing at an accelerated rate. Retail organisations are in need of interventions to better manage their data to leverage it for a competitive advantage. Data governance has become vital for organisations that are looking for derive the maximum strategic value from their data assets. Organisations especially in retail are in need of guidance on the practical implementation of data governance. The study leverages the diffusion of innovation theory to explore the implementation of data governance within a selected retail organisation in South Africa. Through the review of the literature, it was established that there has been limited research in the implementation of data governance and the implementation of data governance in practice still remains a challenge for many organisations. This study was therefore conducted to understand elements that can facilitate the implementation of data governance using the diffusion of innovation theory. A qualitative research methodology was adopted by the study due to its exploratory nature. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with senior employees at the selected retail organisation in the process of gathering data for the study. The results of the study revealed that the diffusion of innovation theory can be used to facilitate the implementation of data governance in a retail organisation. Additionally, a data governance implementation framework adapted from the diffusion of innovation theory was proposed which can support the implementation of data governance.