Business Intelligence System Use as Levers of Control and Organizational Capabilities

Résumé du livre

This study investigates the organizational benefits of business intelligence (BI) systems. BI systems are management control systems (MCS) that leverage operational and market data. We draw upon levers of control and capability theory, and distinguish among three aspects of BI systems (intelligence, benchmarking, and integration) and two types of organizational benefits: internal (inward-facing) and competitive (outward-facing). We propose that intelligence use of BI (diagnostic use and an inside-out capability) provides internal benefits, whereas benchmarking use of BI, (interactive use and an outside-in capability) provides competitive benefits. We propose that BI integration with other technologies, a spanning capability, contributes to both internal and competitive benefits. Finally, we investigate the effects of information culture, a clan control, on these aspects of BI. We test our model using structural equation modeling with survey data collected from 175 global organizations, and find our hypotheses to be largely supported. Research and practice implications are discussed.