The Efficacy of the “Big Data” Syndrome and Organizational Information Governance

Abstract

This paper addresses the challenge of big data for the design of organisations in governance. Big data refers to the availability to organisations of massive amounts of heterogeneous and continuously updated information. Practitioners agree that the availability of such information creates challenges and opportunities for organiations that have never been seen before. The article presented here takes up this challenge and discusses avenues for future research and practice on organsiation design in the era of big data. The importance of digital technologies for social and economic developments and a growing focus on data collection and privacy concerns have made the internet a salient and visible issue in global politics. Surprisingly, little research has explored questions about the relations between business, governance and the internet. Government organisations are feverishly exploring ways of taking advantage of the big data phenomenon. This paper seeks to expand our knowledge of the intersections between business management, global governance and the digital domain.