Governing for Agility and Innovation in Data-Rich Environments: the Role of Data Analytics Capabilities

While previous studies agree that governance of information technology (IT) capabilities is an enabler of organizational agility and innovation, scant attention has been paid to exploring capabilities that are antecedents of agility and successful innovation in data-rich environments. By drawing on IT capabilities literature, in this research in progress paper we conceptualize a three-dimensional secondorder construct of data analytics capabilities and propose to test its enabling effect on agility and consequently on innovation success in an environment with a copious amount of data. Our proposition is that data analytics capabilities consisting of the dimensions of infrastructure, personnel expertise, and inter-unit social infrastructure, can lead to organizational agility, which in turn leads to successful innovation. In this study, we develop a theoretical model and present hypotheses for empirical testing. The methodology for conducting a web-based survey and anticipated theoretical as well as practical contributions are presented.

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