{"title":"Exploration–Exploitation: How business analytics powers organisational ambidexterity for environmental sustainability","authors":"Yunfei Shi, Christine Van Toorn, Mikayla McEwan","doi":"10.1111/isj.12456","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>Simultaneous exploration and exploitation (i.e., exploration–exploitation) can help a firm address short-term environmental requirements and ensure long-term environmental viability. Exploration–exploitation, however, challenges organisational practices because they compete for resources and time. While business analytics (BA) offers the potential to overcome these challenges, research to date offers very limited insights into how BA capabilities interact with ambidextrous capabilities to realise environmental value. We address this issue by conducting a comparative case study at a bank and at a real-estate trust through the theoretical lens of dynamic capabilities. We develop a process model to explain how BA powers ambidextrous practices to achieve sustainability outcomes over time. We uncover two mechanisms: a <i>BA-powered context shaping</i> mechanism by which BA powers contextual ambidexterity at the employee level using data availability, timeliness, and analytics culture; and a <i>BA-powered resource linking</i> mechanism by which BA powers structural ambidexterity at intra- and inter-organisational levels using holistic insights and analytics leadership. Our model highlights the contextual factors that condition the extent to which a firm moves along the continuum of exploration–exploitation. We also define a new dimension of sustainability outcomes which we label eco-awareness to explain how BA shapes employees' environmental alertness and enables the paradigm shift in an organisation's sustainability mindset.</p>","PeriodicalId":48049,"journal":{"name":"Information Systems Journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":6.5000,"publicationDate":"2023-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/isj.12456","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Information Systems Journal","FirstCategoryId":"91","ListUrlMain":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/isj.12456","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"INFORMATION SCIENCE & LIBRARY SCIENCE","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Simultaneous exploration and exploitation (i.e., exploration–exploitation) can help a firm address short-term environmental requirements and ensure long-term environmental viability. Exploration–exploitation, however, challenges organisational practices because they compete for resources and time. While business analytics (BA) offers the potential to overcome these challenges, research to date offers very limited insights into how BA capabilities interact with ambidextrous capabilities to realise environmental value. We address this issue by conducting a comparative case study at a bank and at a real-estate trust through the theoretical lens of dynamic capabilities. We develop a process model to explain how BA powers ambidextrous practices to achieve sustainability outcomes over time. We uncover two mechanisms: a BA-powered context shaping mechanism by which BA powers contextual ambidexterity at the employee level using data availability, timeliness, and analytics culture; and a BA-powered resource linking mechanism by which BA powers structural ambidexterity at intra- and inter-organisational levels using holistic insights and analytics leadership. Our model highlights the contextual factors that condition the extent to which a firm moves along the continuum of exploration–exploitation. We also define a new dimension of sustainability outcomes which we label eco-awareness to explain how BA shapes employees' environmental alertness and enables the paradigm shift in an organisation's sustainability mindset.
同时进行勘探和开发(即勘探-开发)可以帮助企业满足短期的环境要求,并确保长期的环境可行性。然而,探索-开发会对组织实践造成挑战,因为它们会争夺资源和时间。虽然商业分析(BA)具有克服这些挑战的潜力,但迄今为止的研究对商业分析能力如何与双向能力相互作用以实现环境价值的见解非常有限。为了解决这一问题,我们从动态能力的理论视角出发,对一家银行和一家房地产信托公司进行了比较案例研究。我们建立了一个过程模型,以解释随着时间的推移,BA 是如何为实现可持续发展成果的双向实践提供动力的。我们发现了两种机制:一种是由管理局驱动的情境塑造机制,通过这种机制,管理局利用数据可用性、及时性和分析文化,在员工层面推动情境灵活性;另一种是由管理局驱动的资源链接机制,通过这种机制,管理局利用整体洞察力和分析领导力,在组织内部和组织间层面推动结构灵活性。我们的模型强调了制约企业沿着探索-开发连续统一体前进的背景因素。我们还定义了可持续发展成果的一个新维度,并将其命名为生态意识,以解释 BA 如何塑造员工的环境警觉性并促成组织可持续发展思维模式的转变。
期刊介绍:
The Information Systems Journal (ISJ) is an international journal promoting the study of, and interest in, information systems. Articles are welcome on research, practice, experience, current issues and debates. The ISJ encourages submissions that reflect the wide and interdisciplinary nature of the subject and articles that integrate technological disciplines with social, contextual and management issues, based on research using appropriate research methods.The ISJ has particularly built its reputation by publishing qualitative research and it continues to welcome such papers. Quantitative research papers are also welcome but they need to emphasise the context of the research and the theoretical and practical implications of their findings.The ISJ does not publish purely technical papers.