EURO 2025 Leeds
Abstract Submission

889. What Explains the Use of Business Analytics? A Comprehensive Analysis of the Ability, Opportunity, and Motivation of Firms’ Use of Business Analytics

Invited abstract in session WB-34: Theory of Knowledge, Technology, and Innovation, stream Advancements of OR-analytics in statistics, machine learning and data science.

Wednesday, 10:30-12:00
Room: Michael Sadler LG10

Authors (first author is the speaker)

1. Bernd Brandl
Durham University Business School, Durham University
2. Gokce Basbug
Durham University
3. Barbara Bechter
Durham University
4. Ulrike Leopold-Wildburger
Department of Operations and Information Systems, University of Graz

Abstract

For many firms the use of business analytics and the effective use of the available information and data appears to be a self-evident advantage but comparatively few firms make use of it. Recent literature suggests that there are various firm specific and contextual factors that encourage as well as restrain firms from making use of OR- and Business Analytics but little is known about their role and relevance. On the basis of an up-to-date, large scale, cross-national and cross-sectoral data set on the incidence of use of OR- and Business Analytics in 20,411 firms in all member states of the EU, we investigate the role and relevance of a comprehensive list of factors that potentially explain why some firms make use of business analytics while others refrain from its use. Against the background that the dataset covers firms within a wide range of countries and therefore within different institutional and legal systems which were shown to be decisive for the use of business analytics, we systematically analyse the relevance of firm specific, i.e. organizational, market specific, and country factors on the incidence of business analytics in firms using a multi-level framework. Our findings show that country specific factors matter but market factors appear to be of less importance. Most notably, however, we find that the use of business analytics is explained by firm traditions rather than market and business matters.

Keywords

Status: accepted


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