Graduate students as surrogates for managers in business intelligence and analytics research: a preliminary study. Issue 3 (3rd July 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Song, Yutong; Arnott, David; Gao, Shijia
• Is Part Of: Journal of decision systems. Volume 31:Issue 3(2022)
• Page Start: 280
• Page End: 304
• Publication Date: 2022-07-03
• Subjects: Business intelligence -- analytics -- experiments -- student subjects -- surrogates; Decision support systems -- Periodicals; Management information systems -- Periodicals; Information resources management -- Periodicals; Information storage and retrieval systems -- Periodicals; Management -- Communication systems -- Periodicals; Decision support systems; Information resources management; Information storage and retrieval systems; Management -- Communication systems; Management information systems; Periodicals; 658.40305
• DOI: 10.1080/12460125.2020.1838037
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1246-0125

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Business intelligence and analytics (BI&A) research has been dominated by conceptual studies, simulations, and case studies, but as the field matures, experimentation is increasing. The use of students as surrogates for managers in experiments is a widespread practice in business research. Managers are difficult to recruit and organise for experimental sessions, adding to the time span and cost of a research project. This paper reports on an experiment where students and managers used a BI&A system to make simulated business decisions. The experiment is the first stage of a larger project. The study found that there were no significant differences between student and manager performance in terms of decision-making quality and efficiency, and they had similar perceptions of BI&A systems use. This paper provides preliminary evidence that high performing graduate students may be used as surrogates for managers for investigations concerning structured decisions that are supported by BI&A systems.