Big Data viewed through the lens of management fashion theory

Big Data (BD) is currently one of the most talked about management ideas in the business community. Many call it the “buzzword of the day.” In books and media articles, BD has been referred to as a “revolution” and “new era.” There is lots of optimistic and upbeat rhetoric surrounding BD. This has l...

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Main Authors: Dag Øivind Madsen, Tonny Stenheim
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2016-12-01
Series:Cogent Business & Management
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2016.1165072
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author Dag Øivind Madsen
Tonny Stenheim
author_facet Dag Øivind Madsen
Tonny Stenheim
author_sort Dag Øivind Madsen
collection DOAJ
description Big Data (BD) is currently one of the most talked about management ideas in the business community. Many call it the “buzzword of the day.” In books and media articles, BD has been referred to as a “revolution” and “new era.” There is lots of optimistic and upbeat rhetoric surrounding BD. This has led some to question whether BD is a hyped-up management fashion. In this paper, the BD phenomenon is viewed through the lens of management fashion theory. Management fashion provides an analytical lens which can be used to analyze the supply and demand side forces shaping the emergence and evolution of BD. The analysis shows that BD emerged in the late 1990s, gained momentum during the mid-2000s and legitimacy in the late 2000s, and enjoyed an almost meteoric rise in popularity in 2011 and 2012. Moreover, the analysis shows that BD currently is a very popular and highly contagious management idea exhibiting several hallmarks of a management fashion. At the same time, evidence suggests that it may be of a longer duration and not just another transient management fashion or fad. The findings have several implications for the study of the BD phenomenon and more generally, management and IT fashions.
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spelling doaj.art-f27878ee33d745f387b43586b4222eac2022-12-21T22:58:40ZengTaylor & Francis GroupCogent Business & Management2331-19752016-12-013110.1080/23311975.2016.11650721165072Big Data viewed through the lens of management fashion theoryDag Øivind Madsen0Tonny Stenheim1University College of Southeast NorwayBI Norwegian Business SchoolBig Data (BD) is currently one of the most talked about management ideas in the business community. Many call it the “buzzword of the day.” In books and media articles, BD has been referred to as a “revolution” and “new era.” There is lots of optimistic and upbeat rhetoric surrounding BD. This has led some to question whether BD is a hyped-up management fashion. In this paper, the BD phenomenon is viewed through the lens of management fashion theory. Management fashion provides an analytical lens which can be used to analyze the supply and demand side forces shaping the emergence and evolution of BD. The analysis shows that BD emerged in the late 1990s, gained momentum during the mid-2000s and legitimacy in the late 2000s, and enjoyed an almost meteoric rise in popularity in 2011 and 2012. Moreover, the analysis shows that BD currently is a very popular and highly contagious management idea exhibiting several hallmarks of a management fashion. At the same time, evidence suggests that it may be of a longer duration and not just another transient management fashion or fad. The findings have several implications for the study of the BD phenomenon and more generally, management and IT fashions.http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2016.1165072big datamanagement fashionit fashionhype cyclesupply sidedemand siderhetoric
spellingShingle Dag Øivind Madsen
Tonny Stenheim
Big Data viewed through the lens of management fashion theory
Cogent Business & Management
big data
management fashion
it fashion
hype cycle
supply side
demand side
rhetoric
title Big Data viewed through the lens of management fashion theory
title_full Big Data viewed through the lens of management fashion theory
title_fullStr Big Data viewed through the lens of management fashion theory
title_full_unstemmed Big Data viewed through the lens of management fashion theory
title_short Big Data viewed through the lens of management fashion theory
title_sort big data viewed through the lens of management fashion theory
topic big data
management fashion
it fashion
hype cycle
supply side
demand side
rhetoric
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2016.1165072
work_keys_str_mv AT dagøivindmadsen bigdataviewedthroughthelensofmanagementfashiontheory
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