The Big Data Analytics Gold Rush: A Research Framework for Coordination and Governance

Big data analytics (BDA) is rapidly becoming a most critical activity for organizations. Examples of how BDA enhances the competitive advantage of organizations abound in the literature, which has created a gold-rush-like atmosphere. The predictions about shortages of specialized analytical labor has caused every major university to launch big data, analytics or data science programs, and every major organization to adopt aggressive BDA initiatives. The promise of enhanced competitiveness and sustainable strategic advantage are appealing and virtually all major decisions need to be backed up with data. This has substantial implications for organizations, which need to align their business process architectures, data architectures and data management practices to support BDA initiatives. But while most research in this area has focused on either building BDA capabilities or on the benefits that these capabilities bring to organization, we know little about how this effort can be most effectively coordinated and governed to ensure organizational success. In this research we develop a research framework to study whether and how coordination and governance influence BDA outcomes. We build on the foundations of coordination theory and information systems governance.