An evaluation of Organization competitive advantage through use of big data – case of media in Kenya

Abstract

The exploitation of data by media organizations has always played an important role, where audiences spend more time online interacting with various sources of information, generating data through their devices. This study mainly evaluates competitive advantage in media organizations through use of big data. Theoretical foundation underpinning this study include Resource Based View and Organization Learning Theory. The conceptual framework research borrows from Mikalef et al, framework that separates IT resources from IT capabilities to bring out the relationship that can be used to obtain a competitive edge. It is further enhanced with UTAUT framework that unifies different earlier models and theories of Acceptability of technology and its usage and Taxonomy framework of IS evaluation which builds on past research on assessing information system use gains by considering the main forces and their interaction in an organization context. The study uses a descriptive, cross sectional method with a mono method for assessing influence of moderating variables to the usage of big data to get an edge in media organizations. The sample was separated into strata by means of a stratified sampling approach while simple random sampling picked specific representation from each category of the sample. A five-point Likert scale questionnaire was administered via Google forms for survey data collection. 74 responses were received out of a target 111 which was a 67% response rate. SPSS was the tool used to analyze data. A test of normality was done to find out whether the collected data met the assumptions of parametric testing. The null hypothesis was rejected for the statistical significance was below 0.05. Ordinal logistic regression analysis and Spearman Correlation analysis were the specific non-parametric tests carried out. The study explored the moderating effect of stakeholders, internal and environmental factors on use of big data technologies in media organizations for competitive advantage gains. 0.23 was the Nagelkerke value which is similar to R-Square for linear regression. Level of big data use was a significant predicator to competitive advantage. There was a predicted jump of 0.777 in the log-odds of dropping at a higher level on competitive advantage for every unit increase in big data utilization. Stakeholders was a significant predicator to competitive advantage. There was a predicted jump of 0.823 in the log-odds of dropping at a higher level on competitive advantage for every unit increase in stakeholders. External Factors was a significant predicator to competitive advantage. There was a predicted fall of 1.093 in the log-odds of dropping at a higher level on competitive advantage for every unit increase in external factors.