Turning Data into Value – Exploring the Role of Synergy in Leveraging Value among Data

ABSTRACT

Organizations sit on a treasure trove of data. Combining data from a plurality of sources is challenging but comes with enormous potential. Although this phenomenon is crucial for generating value, its underlying synergistic effect is virtually absent in IS literature. Grounded in systems theory, we developed a conceptual framework of data synergy by means of reviewing literature and conducting 24 semi-structured interviews. We reveal various enabling conditions, facilitating super-additive informational and transactional value generation.

KEYWORDS:

• Synergy
• systems theory
• data variety
• value realization
• qualitative research design
• data synergy

Notes

1. An earlier version of this paper was presented and discussed at the 52^nd Hawaii International Conference on System Science and published in the proceedings as Weibl, Johannes. “Interconnectivity of Big Data Sources: Exploring Synergistic Relationships among Data.” HICSS-52 Proceedings, January 2019.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Johannes Weibl

Johannes Weibl is a Ph.D. candidate and research assistant at the Institute for Information Systems and New Media at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU), Munich, Germany. He received his Dipl.-Wirtsch.-Ing. from Darmstadt University of Technology and has worked as a management consultant on various digitalization and big data projects. He was also a visiting scholar at Columbia Business School, New York, USA. His doctoral thesis addresses the value generation and managerial challenges of big data in organizations. His work has been presented at major national and international IS conferences, such as the Hawaii International Conference on System Science.

Thomas Hess

Thomas Hess is a professor of management information systems at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU), Munich, Germany, where he also serves as director of the Institute for Information Systems and New Media. He holds a Ph.D. in management from the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland. His research focuses on digital business models and digital management systems, digital transformation processes and the management of IT, Internet, and media companies. His work has appeared in Journal of Management Information Systems, Communications of the ACM, Decision Support Systems, Information Systems Journal, International Journal of Electronic Commerce, and others.