An Empirical Taxonomy of the Decision-Making Processes Concerning Strategic Applications of Information Systems

Advancing beyond technicism when managing big data in companies’ decision-making

Purpose

In recognising the key role of business intelligence and big data analytics in influencing companies’ decision-making processes, this paper aims to codify the main phases through which companies can approach, develop and manage big data analytics.

Design/methodology/approach

By adopting a research strategy based on case studies, this paper depicts the main phases and challenges that companies “live” through in approaching big data analytics as a way to support their decision-making processes. The analysis of case studies has been chosen as the main research method because it offers the possibility for different data sources to describe a phenomenon and subsequently to develop and test theories.

Findings

This paper provides a possible depiction of the main phases and challenges through which the approach(es) to big data analytics can emerge and evolve over time with reference to companies’ decision-making processes.

Research limitations/implications

This paper recalls the attention of researchers in defining clear patterns through which technology-based approaches should be developed. In its depiction of the main phases of the development of big data analytics in companies’ decision-making processes, this paper highlights the possible domains in which to define and renovate approaches to value. The proposed conceptual model derives from the adoption of an inductive approach. Despite its validity, it is discussed and questioned through multiple case studies. In addition, its generalisability requires further discussion and analysis in the light of alternative interpretative perspectives.

Practical implications

The reflections herein offer practitioners interested in company management the possibility to develop performance measurement tools that can evaluate how each phase can contribute to companies’ value creation processes.

Originality/value

This paper contributes to the ongoing debate about the role of digital technologies in influencing managerial and social models. This paper provides a conceptual model that is able to support both researchers and practitioners in understanding through which phases big data analytics can be approached and managed to enhance value processes.

An approach to the classification of educational chatbots

Nowadays, chatbots have become popular tools in such a way that they are used in different sectors like commercial, elderly care, tourism, and education. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced many students and teachers to suspend face-to-face classes. Therefore, schools and governments have found it necessary to continue education remotely, using the resources provided by the Internet. This fact has created a greater interest in educational chatbots, so several projects have been proposed to develop these academic tools, each following its way of implementation and addressing issues from different points of view. This paper presents a proposal for chatbot classification, following the Systematic Mapping Study and an iterative method to review and classify educational chatbots. We also discuss the resulting categories and their characteristics and limitations and possible uses by developers and researchers.

A CASE STUDY OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS DECISION-MAKING: PROCESS CHARACTERISTICS AND COLLABORATION TECHNOLOGY SUPPORT

The paper presents an analysis of a collaborative decision-making process related to the selection and implementation of a new corporate solution for collaboration and information management in a Norwegian oil company. Several challenges were identified in the decision-making process, related to ensuring continuity between different phases, enabling efficient communication among the different stakeholder groups, and gaining involvement and commitment from the business areas. The analysis also focuses on the utilization of various collaboration technologies in the different phases of the decision-making process. The use of a common information repository, a well established communications infrastructure, and skilled meeting facilitators, were important factors for successful completion of the project. A more differentiated and role-based access to the information repositories, and more extensive use of online discussion forums were identified as potential means for increasing involvement in the process and closing communication gaps between stakeholder groups. Further, combination of different technologies for supporting multimode interaction was identified as a potential way of enabling more effective interaction in time pressed activities. The study contributes to increase our understanding of collaborative IS decision-making processes, and the role of collaboration technologies for supporting these.

Antecedents of Improvisation in IT-Enabled Engineering Work

The success of engineering work depends on the ability of individuals to improvise in response to emerging challenges and opportunities (Kappel & Rubenstein, 1999). Building on experiential learning theory (Eisenhardt & Tabrizi 1995; Kolb, 1984) and improvisation theory (Miner, Bassoff, & Moorman, 2001), this authors argue that information systems facilitate the generation of new product and process design ideas by providing richer feedback, creating shorter learning cycles, and enabling engineers to try a variety of new ideas more easily. An empirical research model of the antecedents of improvisation in IT-enabled engineering work is proposed. This model is examined using a sample of 208 individuals engaged in computer-intensive engineering design work. The multiple regression results suggest that software capability, autonomy, problem solving/decision support usage, system use for work planning, and length of use explain the extent of new product and process ideas that are generated. The practical and theoretical implications of these findings are discussed.

A technology empowerment model for engineering work

Seeking to enhance the use of information technology for problem solving/decision support efforts and innovation in engineering work, management has sought to empower engineers by investing in increasingly powerful software capabilities and peer support networks to facilitate an experiential process of working and learning. Based on the concept of psychological empowerment from the management literature, the researchers propose a technology empowerment model (TEM) for the post-adoptive context of engineering design work. This model describes whether individual engineers are energized by cognitive task-technology assessments to engage in an ongoing experiential process. The model contends that psychological empowerment is affected by software capabilities and peer support and, in turn, motivates engineering problem solving/decision support efforts and work process innovations. The model is tested using a sample of 208 individuals engaged in engineering design work. Implications for improving the management of engineering work are discussed.

Contrasting IT Capability and Organizational Types

The Resource-Based View (RBV) has become one of the most popular ways to examine the impact of IT on firm performance. An increasing number of researchers are using the theoretical underpinning of the RBV to ground their research in investigating this relationship. This paper follows in this tradition by developing multidimensional measures for two dimensions of IT capability, inside-out IT capability and spanning IT capability. In this regard, the authors relate these dimensions to firm performance as profit ratios and cost ratios. Inside-out capability is the IT resources deployed from inside the firm in response to market requirements and opportunities. However, spanning IT capability involves both internal and external analysis and is needed to integrate the firm’s inside-out and outside-in IT competences. This study also makes an exploratory comparative assessment of the relative impact of inside-out IT capability and spanning IT capability, while analyzing the differences on the impact of IT capability in diverse types of organizations. Finally, the authors give evidence that different dimensions of IT capability may have different effects on performance measures.

Is Decision-Making: A Study in Information-Intensive Firms

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