Creating and preserving organisational value from data analytics: the role of business partners in bridging data science and business-facing managers

Applications are invited for a fully funded three-year PhD research project in the area of Business Analytics for Organisational Decision-Making. This is a unique opportunity to participate in an interdisciplinary project that has the potential to generate high impacts for organisations, professional bodies and higher education.

Extracting value from increasingly complex and extensive data is widely recognized as an essential capability for organisations, but still a significant challenge for many. Employing a cross-disciplinary perspective, the project aims to improve the understanding of: 1) how data-driven decision-making devices, employing expert statistical and algorithmic processes (the blackbox) interface with human actors, namely business partners as decision framers; and 2) how outputs (management information) are made sense of and used by a range of decision makers.

The selected candidate will work with world-leading academics in the field of accounting and information management. Students from a broad range of disciplines, including accounting, information management and decision sciences, are welcome to apply.
Loughborough University is a top-ten rated university in England for research intensity (REF2014). In choosing Loughborough for your research, you will work alongside academics who are leaders in their field. You will benefit from comprehensive support and guidance from our Doctoral College, including tailored careers advice, to help you succeed in your research and future career.
Find out more: http://www.lboro.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/supporting-you/research/

Full Project Detail
This project investigates the role of the business partner in supporting executive decisions through leading-edge analysis of complex and extensive data sets.

The project will explore three main issues: (1) how business partners in case organisations frame real-world business situations for analysis; (2) the role of the business partner in providing a bridge between technical experts employed in the analytical processes and business-facing user groups; (3) how outputs generated by ‘blackbox’ analytics (technology and methods) are validated heuristically by managers against real-world phenomena.

The study will explore data analytical projects within case organisations settings through primary data sources (data inputs and information outputs), interviews and focus groups. The results will add to a nascent body of literature about the role and nature of data analytics in organisational decision-making and will benefit a wide range of stakeholders, including professional bodies and higher education.

Find out more
http://www.lboro.ac.uk/departments/sbe/study/phd/

Entry requirements
UK Masters degree (with average programme mark of no less than 65%) or International equivalent. English Language requirement of IELTS band 7.0 or above with not less than 7.0 in each component.

Contact details
Name: Dr Anna Raffoni
Email address: [Email Address Removed]
Telephone number: +44 (0)1509 228232

Application details
Reference number: SBEAR-19
Start date of studentship: 1 October 2019
Closing date of advert: 2 August 2019
Interview date: 4 September 2019

All applications should be made online at http://www.lboro.ac.uk/study/apply/research/. Under programme name, select Business School

Please quote reference number: SBEAR-19