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How big data alters value creation: through the lens of big data competency

Xiaobo Wu (School of Management, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China)
Liping Liang (School of Management, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China)
Siyuan Chen (Open Platform Department, China Mobile (Hangzhou) Information Technology Co., Ltd., Hangzhou, China)

Management Decision

ISSN: 0025-1747

Article publication date: 7 January 2022

Issue publication date: 22 February 2022

1635

Abstract

Purpose

As various different and even contradictory concepts are proposed to depict a firm's capabilities related to big data, and extant relevant research is fragmented and scattered in several disciplines, there is currently a lack of holistic and comprehensive understanding of how big data alters value creation by facilitating firm capabilities. To narrow this gap, this study aims to synthesize current knowledge on the firm capabilities and transformation of value creation facilitated by big data.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors adopt an inductive and rigorous approach to conduct a systematic review of 185 works, following the “Grounded Theory Literature-Review Method”.

Findings

The authors introduce and develop the concept of big data competency, present an inductive framework to open the black box of big data competency following the logic of virtual value chain, provide a structure of big data competency that consists of two dimensions, namely, big data capitalization and big data exploitation, and further explain the evolution of value creation structure from value chain to value network by connecting the attributes of big data competency (i.e. connectivity and complementarity) with the transformation of value creation (i.e. optimizing and pioneering).

Originality/value

The big data competency, an inclusive concept of firm capabilities to deal with big data, is proposed. Based on this concept, the authors highlight the significant contributions that extant research has made toward our understanding of how big data alters value creation by facilitating firm capabilities. Besides, the authors provide a future research agenda that academics can rely on to study the strategic management of big data.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to sincerely thank the editor and anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments and helpful suggestions for improving this paper. The paper has also benefited a lot from the valuable feedback of Bin Guo, Can Huang, and other professors and scholars of the Elite team, School of Management, Zhejiang University. The authors also gratefully acknowledge the financial support from National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 71832013, No. 72172140).

Citation

Wu, X., Liang, L. and Chen, S. (2022), "How big data alters value creation: through the lens of big data competency", Management Decision, Vol. 60 No. 3, pp. 707-734. https://doi.org/10.1108/MD-09-2021-1199

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited

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