What managers think about big data

Digitisation progresses rapidly, producing vast amounts of big data. Companies can innovate their business models by using big data and related technologies. Some industries and companies are already on their way towards more data-driven businesses, but for most organisations this is an uncharted territory. The process is first and foremost a business transformation issue. Management leads the change and sets the pace; therefore the attitudes and intentions of executives towards big data are important in the transformation process. This survey concerns the behavioural intentions of Finnish executives with regard to big data. Building on a well-established technology acceptance model we explored the factors that explain the intentions. According to the results, executives intend to take actions that will promote the utilisation of big data. They have either experienced or expect big data to be beneficial to their business, especially with regard to current products or services, streamlining of processes and increasing customer understanding. In addition to the generally positive attitude towards big data, the results reveal significant differences between respondents with big data experience compared to the inexperienced ones. The role of IT management seems to play an important role in the differences.