The Role of Big Data Analytics in Manufacturing Agility and Performance: Moderation–Mediation Analysis of Organizational Creativity and of the Involvement of Customers as Data Analysts

Abstract

The involvement of customers as data analysts enables firms to gain valuable insights and create value from big data. We provide a theoretical explanation, drawn from the resource-based view, for the influence of the involvement of customers as data analysts and of the development of big data analytics (BDA) capabilities in business-to-business contexts as routes to manufacturing agility and performance. Our study empirically tested a framework in which organizational creativity and the involvement of customers as data analysts may differentially influence the relationship between BDA capabilities and manufacturing agility. We further tested whether the relative impact of manufacturing agility depends on organizational creativity and the involvement of customers as data analysts. To test our proposed framework, we took a partial least-squares structural modelling approach using data collected through a survey involving 179 engineering manufacturers operating across different industrial sectors in Pakistan. We provide evidence for organizational creativity and customer involvement, presenting a promising opportunity for manufacturers to gain better insights from resources, and for the deployment of BDA capabilities leading to better manufacturing agility and performance.