| dc.description.abstract | The purpose of this thesis is to explore the acceptance and use of business intelligence (BI)
solutions in decision making in management accounting (MA). To do so we have sought to answer
the following research question:
How can the use of BI solutions in MA facilitate data-driven decision making?
During the last decade, due to the staggering technological growth, there has been a lot of research
on both BI and MA. However, the research on BI solutions and their impact on MA is limited. We
aim to contribute with insights into this cross-disciplinary field by identifying which elements are
important to consider when using financial data as decision making support, and by this facilitate
for data-driven decision making in MA, using BI solutions. To do this we conducted a survey,
directed at decision makers in a large Norwegian company. The survey is mostly quantitative, with
questions based on the TAM framework, while also having embedded qualitative components.
Subsequently the analysis is based on both quantitative and qualitative data gathered from the
respondents to our survey.
When answering our main research question, we find three main findings which have important
implications for our case company. We find that compatibility (C) is the factor shown to be the
most important for the acceptance and use of BI solutions, which implies that the specific needs
which make up the compatibility need to be mapped out and taken into account. Secondly, we find
that the information presented in the dashboard needs to be uncomplicated and tell a story about
the data, so that it can be used as efficient decision support. Lastly, we find that it is important to
have a continuous development of the users’ knowledge and skills, so that they are kept at an
adequate level in accordance with the solutions used. Subsequently it is highly important that there
is a valid reason for implementing new technological solutions, to avoid implementing for the sake
of implementing it. Our research finds that for a dashboard solution to be a good decision support
for basing decisions on these aspects need to be both considered and acted on. | en_US |
