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… Click to show full 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.
               
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