The use of data mining techniques in accounting and finance as a corporate strategic tool: an empirical investigation on banks operating in emerging economies

Globalisation and recent financial crises have increased the pressures faced by banks operating in emerging economies to maintain their competitive advantages and to insure sustainability. Recent technological advancement paved the way for the use of big data to assist companies in the decision making process. One of the methods exploited by management to make advantage of the huge amount of available information is data mining. This study aims at examining the employment of data mining techniques in the banking sector in an interesting research setting, namely: Jordan. The main objective of this study is to explore the perceptions regarding the use of data mining techniques as a strategic management tool in the banking sector from accounting and finance perspective. Toward this end, a questionnaire is designed and distributed to a sample of 76 banking employees in Jordan who are directly involved in the banking decision support systems units. Results showed that the use of data mining techniques is positively significant in data exchange with internal environment as well as with the external environment of the bank. In addition, results reported the significance impact of data mining techniques in supporting management decision making process in the areas of accounting and finance.