The Role of Leadership in Building the Foundations for Data Analytics, Visualization and Business Intelligence

A study on the influence of leadership orchestration on e-readiness accession in higher education in the Republic of Kenya concluded in 2018 showed that there is a correlation between the leadership performance on selected leadership indices and the institution’s digital age readiness. Does this correlation also apply to adoption of evidence-based decision-making and, thus, application of data analytics, visualization and business intelligence? Cross-sectional survey design was employed. Quantitative data was collected through simple random sampling using an online questionnaire in nine purposively selected universities. Seven key questions formulated around process and data were posed to the participants. Qualitative data was obtained using focus group discussion and interviews. Pearson Moment Co-efficient of Correlation and bivariate regression were done. Content analysis was applied on the qualitative data. Significant correlation was observed with six out of seven items. It is concluded that institutional perspective on process performance and evidence-based decision-making is correlated with leadership orchestration. Effective adoption and application of data analytics, visualization and business intelligence in the digital age is dependent on institutional leadership. Recommendation is made to re-orient leadership in higher education to evidence-based decision-making and data-driven culture in order to harness the power of data analytics, visualization and business intelligence to improve the quality and productivity of higher education in Kenya.