Boosting innovation performance through big data analytics: An empirical investigation on the role of firm agility

Abstract

While past studies proposed the role of big data analytics (BDA) as one of the primary pathways to business value creation, current knowledge on the link between BDA and innovation performance remains limited. In this regard, this study intends to fill this research gap by developing a theoretical framework for understanding how and under which mechanisms BDA influences innovation performance. Firm agility (conceptualised as sensing agility, decision-making agility and acting agility) is used in this research as the mediator between BDA and innovation performance. Besides, this research conceptualises two moderating variables: data-driven culture and BDA team sophistication. This study employs partial least squares (PLS) to test and validate the proposed hypotheses using survey data of 185 firms. The results show that firm agility significantly mediates the link between BDA use and innovation performance. Besides, the results suggest that data-driven culture moderates the relation between sensing agility and decision-making agility. This research also supports the moderating role of BDA team sophistication on the link between BDA use and sensing agility.