Harnessing Big Data Analytics to Accelerate Innovation: An Empirical Study on Sport-Based Entrepreneurs

The emergence of advanced technologies brings various opportunities for all kinds of business organizations. This topic was selected for research and discussion to figure out the possible impacts of using the ever-increasing development of digitalization, big data analytic capabilities (BDACs) and innovation in the field of sport-based entrepreneurship, which is the main pillar for the economic wellbeing, development and growth of sport activities. This study highlights the function of the BDAC of entrepreneurs in the acceleration of their readiness and innovation activities. Beyond the direct association of BDAC with an entrepreneur’s readiness and innovation performance (IP), we also tested the mediation of entrepreneurial readiness between the BDAC and IP of sport-based entrepreneurs. Moreover, the moderation of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) was also considered for the readiness and IP link. In this study, data were collected from 562 sport-based entrepreneurs. Online questionnaires were used for data collection, and various statistical techniques, including correlation, regression and structural equation modeling (AMOS 7.0), were applied for the analyses of the collected data. The outcomes of this study disclosed that BDAC and entrepreneur readiness positively predicted the IP. The results revealed that entrepreneurial readiness mediated between BDAC and IP. The findings suggested that sport-based entrepreneurs should enhance their BDAC for the execution of sport-related innovative activities. In spite of its valuable findings and suggestions, the current study is subject to some limitations. Firstly, this study is limited to sport-based entrepreneurs only. Secondly, AIT theory was used here, so for future considerations, other pillars of the economy such as the manufacturing sector should also be considered and the many other theories available should be employed.