Business analytics practices and managerial implications based on the evidence from Korea

Purpose - Despite a growing interest in business analytics (BA) from the business and academic communities, it is still unknown what truly motivates and hinders the adoption of BA. To have a clear picture of what will lead to the successful implementation of BA, this paper identifies contextual variables (e.g. user characteristics, organizational readiness and technology infrastructure/expertise) that significantly influence the BA adoption decision. Design/methodology/approach - This paper conducted a series of classification, discriminant and logistics regressions analyses to analyze the differences in mail survey responses between adopters and nonadopters of BA and then determine what either motivate or inhibit the BA adoption. Findings - Through a series of hypothesis testing, we discovered that large firms with a greater number of information technology (IT) staff and budget tended to adopt BA more than their smaller counterparts. Also, we found that BA skeptics, who did not fully recognize BA benefit potentials, were more concerned about BA implementation costs and experienced the greater organization resistance to BA adoption than the others did. Therefore, they were less likely to adopt BA. Originality/value - In the era of knowledge-based economy, the firm's ability to derive actionable insights from big data can be a game changer. Such ability can be developed and nurtured by utilizing BA which is designed to help business executives and policymakers make well-thought and informed decisions. This paper is one of the first attempts to develop practical guidelines for the successful implementation of BA based on the exploratory study of BA practices among the Korean firms.