How to turn managers into data-driven decision makers

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to emphasize the need to engender a positive attitude toward business analytics in order for firms to more effectively transform into data-driven businesses, and for business schools to better prepare future managers. Design/methodology/approach: This paper develops and validates a measurement instrument that captures the attitude toward business statistics, the foundation of business analytics. A multi-stage approach is implemented and the validation is conducted with a sample of 311 students from a business school. Findings: The instrument has strong psychometric properties. It is designed so that it can be easily extrapolated to professional contexts and extended to the entire domain of business analytics. Research limitations/implications: As the advent of a data-driven business world will impact the way organizations function and the way individuals think, work, communicate and interact, it is crucial to engage a transdisciplinary dialogue among domains that have the expertise to help train and transform current and future professionals. Practical implications: The contribution provides educators and organizations with a means to measure and monitor attitudes toward statistics, the most anxiogenic component of business analytics. This is a first step in monitoring and developing an analytics mindset in both managers and students. Originality/value: By demonstrating how the advent of the data-driven business era is transforming the DNA and functioning of organizations, this paper highlights the key importance of changing managers’ and all employees’ (to a lesser extent) mindset and way of thinking.