Value of Analytics for Decision-Making: Role of Managers and Analysts

Abstract

ABSTRACT Despite the hype and investments, the successful use of analytics demands human-intensive efforts to exploit its full potential. The mixed outcomes of analytics initiatives indicate the need to dive deep into how analytical activities and processes contribute to business value creation. Building on the knowledge-based and dynamic capability views and following the analytics process perspective, we examine managers’ and analysts’ roles in creating value for data-driven decision-making. We conducted Q-sorting, exploratory factor analysis, and partial least squares analysis using data from 159 firms with low to medium-level analytics. As part of our research, we conceptualize and develop two novel multi-dimensional constructs: 1) managerial analytics competency and 2) technical analytics competency and then empirically investigate their impact on decision-making efficiency and effectiveness. Our results reveal the crucial role of managerial analytics competency in driving the technical analytics competency for improved decision-making. Furthermore, our research offers significant contributions to theory and practice.