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The Influence of business intelligence on the operational capabilities of organisations in South Africa
Author(s)
Paradza, Dignity
Date Issued
2022
Type
Thesis
Publisher
Cape Peninsula University of Technology
Abstract
The extent of the success of Business Intelligence (BI) is still unclear as there have been
variations in outcomes achieved from BI implementation on business capabilities. It
remains a gamble to either employ or to continue employing BI in organisational systems
as there is no guarantee whether business process performance will be achieved and
eventually business value. BI demands large investments to be effective, and with such
investments, the benefits are expected, either as operational efficiency or return on
investment (increased organisational profitability). The lack of in-depth literature on BI
influence on organisational capability inhibits process performance as practitioners who
wish to benefit from BI remain mystified about how business value can be achieved.
Further, this lack of understanding can lead organisations to fail to achieve growth, or
worse, the decline in the business.
The adopted research philosophy for the study is Interpretivism it seeks to establish an
understanding of the nuances that enable the realisation of Business Value (BV) from
adopting BI. The ontological stance employed for this research is subjectivism which
subscribes to the notion that reality is based on social actors’ interaction with the
environment around them, which therefore affirms the stance of subjectivity. The
epistemological spectrum of the research was established as interpretivist, where
perceived reality, the social actors mentioned in the ontology interpret or generate
understanding (or knowledge) based on their perception of reality resulting in multiple
facets of truth.
An inductive approach was employed since the emphasis was on creating a theory that
best explains how BI generates BV. A holistic multiple case study was adopted because
gaining a detailed insight into how BI influences capabilities to achieve business value
requires a holistic analysis of the organisations under study. The unit of analysis was BI
infused operations where the extent of the respective capabilities and the overall
contribution to BV was assessed, while the unit of observation entailed the IT personnel
from various levels of the organisation, specifically representatives from operational,
tactical and strategic management. Non-random and convenient sampling were adopted
for this research because of the scarcity of organisations currently adopting BI willing to
be part of this study for various reasons. Snowballing and referrals were the main
strategies for identifying potential respondents for the research. Data collection was
executed by utilising in-depth interviews and focus groups suited to the nature and philosophy of the research using Zoom. Due to the nature of the data to be collected,
Atlas ti was used for analysis with the use of thematic analysis.
The findings revealed the reliance on BI human resource capital, management and
infrastructure to achieve BV. Furthermore, expanding BI teams, the need for adequate
investment, development and application of advanced analytics and management
support were highlighted as integral for realising BV. Moreover, BI Human Resource
capital, BI infrastructure and BI management were all identified, in varying degrees, as
critical to firm performance. This was through consistent sensing of BI benchmarks and
tools against industry and internal standards, seize and transform organisational
operations depending the anomalies identified so that organisations can curb or capital
on the anomaly.
The thesis provides various contributions. From a theoretical contribution perspective, the
thesis presents empirical evidence of the BI factors that influence the realisation of BV in
the context of South African organisations. It also offers a methodological implication that
includes an adopted conceptual framework based on a combination of three (3) theories:
RBV, DC, and TOE as a lens for the study, which offers a new perspective relative to
what has been done previously on the topic of understanding the relationship between
BV adoption and its operational capabilities. The practical contribution stems from the
impact the study and its findings can have on BI adoption and implementation in SA
organisations.
variations in outcomes achieved from BI implementation on business capabilities. It
remains a gamble to either employ or to continue employing BI in organisational systems
as there is no guarantee whether business process performance will be achieved and
eventually business value. BI demands large investments to be effective, and with such
investments, the benefits are expected, either as operational efficiency or return on
investment (increased organisational profitability). The lack of in-depth literature on BI
influence on organisational capability inhibits process performance as practitioners who
wish to benefit from BI remain mystified about how business value can be achieved.
Further, this lack of understanding can lead organisations to fail to achieve growth, or
worse, the decline in the business.
The adopted research philosophy for the study is Interpretivism it seeks to establish an
understanding of the nuances that enable the realisation of Business Value (BV) from
adopting BI. The ontological stance employed for this research is subjectivism which
subscribes to the notion that reality is based on social actors’ interaction with the
environment around them, which therefore affirms the stance of subjectivity. The
epistemological spectrum of the research was established as interpretivist, where
perceived reality, the social actors mentioned in the ontology interpret or generate
understanding (or knowledge) based on their perception of reality resulting in multiple
facets of truth.
An inductive approach was employed since the emphasis was on creating a theory that
best explains how BI generates BV. A holistic multiple case study was adopted because
gaining a detailed insight into how BI influences capabilities to achieve business value
requires a holistic analysis of the organisations under study. The unit of analysis was BI
infused operations where the extent of the respective capabilities and the overall
contribution to BV was assessed, while the unit of observation entailed the IT personnel
from various levels of the organisation, specifically representatives from operational,
tactical and strategic management. Non-random and convenient sampling were adopted
for this research because of the scarcity of organisations currently adopting BI willing to
be part of this study for various reasons. Snowballing and referrals were the main
strategies for identifying potential respondents for the research. Data collection was
executed by utilising in-depth interviews and focus groups suited to the nature and philosophy of the research using Zoom. Due to the nature of the data to be collected,
Atlas ti was used for analysis with the use of thematic analysis.
The findings revealed the reliance on BI human resource capital, management and
infrastructure to achieve BV. Furthermore, expanding BI teams, the need for adequate
investment, development and application of advanced analytics and management
support were highlighted as integral for realising BV. Moreover, BI Human Resource
capital, BI infrastructure and BI management were all identified, in varying degrees, as
critical to firm performance. This was through consistent sensing of BI benchmarks and
tools against industry and internal standards, seize and transform organisational
operations depending the anomalies identified so that organisations can curb or capital
on the anomaly.
The thesis provides various contributions. From a theoretical contribution perspective, the
thesis presents empirical evidence of the BI factors that influence the realisation of BV in
the context of South African organisations. It also offers a methodological implication that
includes an adopted conceptual framework based on a combination of three (3) theories:
RBV, DC, and TOE as a lens for the study, which offers a new perspective relative to
what has been done previously on the topic of understanding the relationship between
BV adoption and its operational capabilities. The practical contribution stems from the
impact the study and its findings can have on BI adoption and implementation in SA
organisations.
Additional information
Thesis (DTech (Informatics))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2022
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