ABSTRACT AND INTRODUCTION
Abstract
Purpose: Business situation has become complex with the growth of technology, therefore, the importance of business intelligence has been increasing to use in the context of the business. In line with its growth and importance, the purpose of the study is to investigate those factors that can impact on the adoption of the business intelligence in context of the organizations in Saudi Arabia.
Methodology: Based on the literature review, multiple factors are found and hypotheses are developed. Quantitative method is used, conducting survey based on the questionnaire distributed to 119 respondents. The research study was based on deductive approach and purposive sampling technique was used. Descriptive and inferential analysis is done using regression and statistical tools to test the hypotheses.
Findings: The findings suggested that six out of thirteen factors (demand, government support, observability, perception of strategic value, poor quality of data and lack of skilled resources) have impact on BI adoption in Saudi Arabia as supported by the results of the regression and statistical analysis. Where, poor quality of data and lack of skilled resources impact negatively and other factors have positive influence.
Implications: The results of the study can be used both theoretically and practically. The government of Saudi Arabia and even of other countries can improve their rules and regulations to support BI adoption and the companies can focus on those factors mainly that are influencing its adoption.
Originality/value: The study offers great insights about the business intelligence and its adoption in context of the organizations of Saudi Arabia and the results provide the promising factors that can contribute to the high adoption of Business intelligence, mainly in the organizations of Saudi Arabia.
Key Words: Business Intelligence, Adoption, Technology, Factors, Saudi Arabia, organizations
Introduction
The growth in the technology and the globalization has changed the environment and process of the business into complexity. Now, almost all companies considered data as the important tool to make strategic decisions, to extract the opportunities from the external environment and to deal with the business challenges. The businesses are needed to be conducted in complex environment to deal with information technology, market competition, demands of consumers and changing market conditions. Many firms around the world have started investing in adoption of the technology that could play significant role in enhancing the efficiency and improve their decision making (Boonsiritomachai, McGrath & Burgess, 2014). In line with this context, many organisations have attracted towards Business Intelligence (BI) Technology to develop data driven decision making.
Business Intelligence is a very significant approach for the organisations. It helps the companies in making improved decisions, sharing data and linking the departments of the firm to improve the business performance and process (Lloyd, 2011). The use and demand of business intelligence is growing because of its advantages to the companies such as data analysis, data reporting, data extracting, developing useful information, forecasting and improving decision making. Beyond its benefits and significance, many organisations have not yet adopted BI; therefore, there can be multiple factors that can impact on the BI adoption.
Background to the Research Area
Various studies have been done about the factors affecting BI adoption in the organizations. Boonsiritomachai, McGrath & Burgess, (2014) have studies the factors affecting BI adoption in Small and Medium Size firms (SMEs) in context of four categories include technological factors, environmental factors, organizational factors and owner-manager factors. They have found eleven factors as relative advantage, observability, complexity, organisational resource availability, vendor selection, competitive pressure, and owner-managers’ innovativeness. Puklavex, Oliveira &Popovic, (2014) have also studies the factors affecting BI adoption in the context of Small and Medium Size firms under three categories include technological, Organizational and environmental. Using theoretical frameworks and literature, both of these studies have derived some factors that can affect BI.
The technology adoption models include Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) (Davis, 1986), Technology-Organisation-Environment model (TOE) (Tornatzky and Fleischer, 1990) and Rogers’s models (Rogers, 1995 & 2005) of technology adoption have discussed various factors that influence on the adoption of technology.
The previous and existing studies and theories contribute to the research study about the factors affecting BI adoption. These studies help in deciding clear path to the study to meet the aims and objectives. Also, the background information of the research area is also provided by these studies. Although, the studies are significant and contribute to the research, however, these studies have conducted in the context of individual industry or country such as Thailand (Boonsiritomachai, McGrath & Burgess, 2014), Malaysia (Hatta et al, 2015), and Poland (Olszak & Ziemba, 2012) and most of these studies have investigated the factors in the context of SMEs. Despite of the contribution, there is gap in the literature, as no study has yet been done to study the BI adoption and the factors affecting in the context of Saudi Arabia. Some studies have been done on technology adoption in higher education in Saudi Arabia (Tashkandi& Al-Jabri, 2015). Therefore, the study is conducted to fill the gap in the literature.
Background to the research Context
Saudi Arabia is one of the largest countries in the Gulf Region and its total population is more than 28.7 million. Arabic is the major language of Saudi Arabia. It is considered as the major player in the Arab World. Its geographical size is quite larger (can be said as the twice of the combination of two small countries such as Germany and France). The country is popular in the world for being oil exporter in the world (BBC, 2015). The economic activities are mainly governed by government, controlling the major economic industry of oil. 45% of GDP is accounted by its oil and petroleum sector (Forbes, 2015). The geographic location can be found in the map below (Country Studies, n.d.):
(Country Studies, n.d.)
SIDF
SIDF (Saudi Industrial Development Fund) was founded with the aim of supporting the growth and progress of private sectors by virtue of Royal Decree. It was issued on 1974G (26/02/1394H). It provides loans for the development, implementation and growth of the new factories and their upgrading. It also provides the advice and consultancy to the industrial firms for finance, administration and marketing in Saudi Kingdom (SIDF, 2016).
MCI
With the growth of commerce and commercial work in Saudi Kingdom, Royal Decree No. 5703/5//22/10 has established the Ministry of Commerce on 17/3/1954. It was developed for the domestic as well as international trading regulations and its growth and development. Various bodies have joined it interested in Commercial issues, since it has established. It is aimed to achieve the leading commerce and industrial sector in the Kingdom (MCI, 2016).
SAMA
SAMA (Saudi Arabia Monetary Agency) was founded by royal decrees issued in the Period of King AbdulAziz on 20/4/1952. It began its practices on 04/10/1952. It has many branches in the Saudi Arabia, opened first brand in Makkah on 26/3/1953 (SAMA, 2015).
ELM
ELM Company is owned by Public Investment Fund (PIF) that was established in 1986 as a research and development company. The major focus of the company was on transfer of technology and its localization. In 2004, it has shifted its focus on information technology services, mainly security. In 2010, it was issued as Joint Stock Company by Royal Decree (ELM, 2016).
Research Aims, Objectives and Questions
Based on the above title, the aim of this study is to explore the factors that influence the adoption of Business Intelligence (BI) among the large organisations in the context of Saud Arabia. The research will investigate the factors that help the organisation to adopt the particular technology in contrast with those difficulties and challenges that come in the way to implement BI technology. In context with the above-mentioned aim and purpose, the objectives of the research are as follows:
The research questions of the research study are as follows:
What is the importance of adoption of BI in Saudi Arabia?
Is there any correlation of BI with the influencing factors?
What are the positive factors that support the adoption of BI in Saudi organisations?
What are the negative factors that influence the process of adopting BI in Saudi organisations?
Research Approach
Dissertation Structure
List of References
BBC. (2015). Saudi Arabia country profile. Available from http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-14702705 [Accessed 12 March 2016]
Boonsiritomachai, W., McGrath, M. & Burgess, S. (2014). A research framework for the adoption of Business Intelligence by Small and Medium-sized enterprises.
Country Studies. (n.d.). Geography. Available from http://countrystudies.us/saudi-arabia/14.htm [Accessed 12 March 2016]
Davis, F.D. (1986). Technology Acceptance Model for Empirically Testing New End-User Information Systems: Theory and Results. Ph.D. thesis. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Massachusetts, USA.
ELM. (2016). About Us. Available from http://www.elm.sa/en/About/Pages/About-Us.aspx [Accessed 12 March 2016]
Forbes. (2015). Saudi Arabia. Available from http://www.forbes.com/places/saudi-arabia/ [Accessed 12 March 2016]
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Lloyd, J. (2011). Identifying Key Components of Business Intelligence Systems and Their Role in Managerial Decision making (Doctoral dissertation, Intel Corporation).
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Olszak, C. M., & Ziemba, E. (2012). Critical success factors for implementing business intelligence systems in small and medium enterprises on the example of upper Silesia, Poland. Interdisciplinary Journal of Information, Knowledge, and Management, Vol. 7, pp. 129-150.
Puklavec, B., Oliveira, T. and Popovič, A., (2014). Unpacking Business Intelligence Systems Adoption Determinants: An Exploratory Study of Small and Medium Enterprises. Economic and Business Review, Vol. 16, No. 2, pp.185-213.
Rogers, E. M. (1995), Diffusion of Innovation, 3rd edn, Free Press, New York.
SAMA. (2015). About Us. Available from http://www.sama.gov.sa/en-us/About/Pages/SAMAFunction.aspx [Accessed 12 March 2016]
SIDF. (2016). About Us. Available from http://www.sidf.gov.sa/en/AboutSIDF/Pages/HistoricalReview.aspx [Accessed 12 March 2016]
Tashkandi, A.N. and Al-Jabri, I.M., (2015). Cloud computing adoption by higher education institutions in Saudi Arabia: an exploratory study. Cluster Computing, Vol. 18, No. 4, pp. 1527-1537.
Tornatzky, L., & Fleischer, M. (1990). The Process of Technology Innovation. Lexington: Lexington Books.
