Perceived strategic value-based adoption of Big Data Analytics in emerging economy : A qualitative approach for Indian firms

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide an insight about factors affecting Big Data Analytics (BDA) utilization and adoption in Indian firms. Research studies have so far focused on BDA adoption in developed economies. This study examines the factors that influence BDA usage and adoption in the context of emerging economies. Design/methodology/approach This study proposed a theoretical model of factors influencing BDA utilization and adoption. Two independent research streams – first, the top managers’ perceived strategic value (PSV) in BDA and second, the factors that influence the adoption of BDA theoretically – have been integrated with the technology-organization-environment (TOE) framework. In the BDA context, there was a theoretical necessity to identify the driver and barriers of BDA from the TOE framework on PSV and adoption of BDA. A qualitative exploratory study using face-to-face semi-structured interviews was carried out to collect data from 22 different enterprises and service providers in India. India was selected as the context as it is one of the fastest growing large economies of the world with huge potential of BDA to improve the business landscape. Findings The results showed that the major reason behind BDA non-adoption is that the organizations did not realize the strategic value (SV) of BDA, and they were not ready to make the changes because of technological, organizational and environmental difficulties. The findings corroborate previous results about significant factors affecting IT adoption and implementation and provide new and interesting insights. The main factors identified as playing a significant role in organizations’ adoption of BDA were SV of BDA, complexity, compatibility, IT assets, top management support, organization data environment, perceived costs, external pressure and industry type. Research limitations/implications The main limitation related to this study is the difficulty in generalizing the findings to a larger population of enterprises. To overcome this, a statistical survey has been planned to be conducted in the future. Practical implications The BDA adoption model in this study will have both managerial implications for practitioners in India, as well as those in other developing countries, and academic implications for researchers who are interested in BDA adoption in developing counties, in terms of formulating better strategies for BDA adoption. For managers, using the research model of this study could assist in increasing their understanding of why some organizations choose to adopt BDA, while similar ones facing similar conditions do not. Also, the understanding of the strategic utilization of BDA in different business processes may improve the adoption of BDA in organizations. Originality/value This paper contributes in exploring and enhancing the understanding of the factors affecting the utilization and adoption of BDA in organizations from an Indian perspective. This study is an attempt to develop and explore a BDA adoption model by the fusion of PSV and TOE framework. The effect of the three contexts of this framework (technological, organizational and environmental) on the strategic utilization of BDA has been studied for the first time.