Impact of big data analytics on firm performance: mediating role of knowledge management

Abstract

Big data analytics (BDA) provides the assurance of proper data analysis and categorization into beneficial business information and conversion thereof into big data knowledge for effective decision making and ultimately improved performance. Unfortunately, there is currently very little research into BDA knowledge management and integration into organizational knowledge although there is an obvious need for a well-designed and cohesive method for it. This paper hence attempts to explore this matter. The authors examined whether BDA poses any positive effect on organizational performance with the mediating role of knowledge management (KM) via an empirical analysis on 107 SMEs in Sri Lanka using the partial least square structural equation modeling. The results confirm that organizations with technological and managerial BDA capabilities demonstrate improved performance mediated by KM. BDA can potentially transform the way businesses compete with each other via improved comprehension, processing and exploitation of copious amounts of data derived from various sources and processes, internally and externally. In light of this new phenomenon, several theoretical and managerial implications are proposed and deliberated.