The Use of Secondary Source Data for Measuring Performance in Operations Management Research

Secondary data sources are invaluable resources for spurring the growth of the second generation of empirical science in operations management (OM), as attested by their rise in published work over the past several years. Researchers utilizing secondary data are, by definition, exploiting data which was not collected specifically for the research question under study. In this paper, we offer a summary of the advantages and shortcomings of using secondary source data in order to provide a road map for improving its use in scholarly OM empirical research. In doing so, we offer a critical review of secondary data measures that have been used to evaluate performance in the extant OM literature from 1990-2013, covering five top-tier OM journals. In addition, we discuss the most frequently used sources of secondary operational performance data, and also highlight rich data sources not yet utilized in published OM work. Further, we present a conceptual typology of secondary data types and sources. Finally, we provide several suggestions and offer guidance to OM researchers who are conducting or considering conducting research using secondary source data.

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