Interview samples and coding

The empirical data collection was performed through in-depth interviews. These interviews with twelve employees in all from the respective interview groups were conducted from July to August 2013, and in November 2013, in AOKN Hanover. The target employees were presented in Section 4.5.1.

The interview situation can be described as follows. Typically, the interview began with a few moments of light discussion of the current situation, why doing a DBA research, and in most cases, the participants and researcher were known to each other. The participant was then asked if they were comfortable in proceeding with the interview. No participants expressed the desire to excuse themselves from the interview. The digital voice recorder of the researcher’s mobile phone was then placed on the table, and the participant was asked if he/she had any concerns with the interview being recorded. Some participants did understand the interview being recorded in order to accurately document the proceedings. However, other participants wished not to record their interviews. All of the participants expressed the opinion that they were comfortable with the interview topic and the research questions that were designed to identify valuable drivers. Therefore, no changes were made to the interview guide. Prior to and throughout the interview, the comfort of the interviewee was monitored, and efforts were made to ensure that rapport and trust was established and maintained between interviewer and interviewee (Charmaz, 2003; de Vaus, 2002; Ryen, 2003). The German interview guide, which provided raw interview material will be presented in the Appendix.

Concerning the sample size, two to ten participants or research subjects was sufficient to reach data saturation and Creswell (1998), pp. 65 and 113, cited by Groenewald, 2004) recommended “long interviews with up to 10 people” for a

phenomenological study. The example of Creswell selected ten managers of a certain enterprise. Quantitative research is often associated with large sample sizes and is not intended to provide in-depth results. In contrast, qualitative research provides the opportunity to gain deep insight into a topic. The objective of this thesis is to accrue a sample that will permit an in-depth understanding of the topic (Lapum, 2009). Indeed the sample size of twelve AOKN employees was ideal and a number of insights were generated from the interviews. That result supports the purpose of data analysis in emerging research domains that are characterized by qualitative data collection (Edmondson & McManus, 2005).

Generally, the interviews will be audio-recorded, if the participant agrees, and point form notes will be taken during the interviews in order to guide further probing and form preliminary field notes. The analysis should value the messiness, depth and texture of life’s experiences (Etherington, 2004). Therefore, this analysis tries to capture the various components of participant’s stories and represents the story the way it was told reflecting all of its complexities.

The respective audio files will be transcribed by the researcher after each interview as soon as possible. Transcription means that oral data, for instance audio mp3, will be rendered into a written representation (Sandelowski, 1994). The transcript will not be verbatim because there is an interpretive character to transcription associated with linguistic nuances. Therefore, speed, tone, silences, and pauses will be noted, for instance as “pause” in the transcript. After transcription, the transcript will be verified with the audio records by reading the transcript while listening to the audio record.

A code in qualitative inquiry is most often a word or short phrase that symbolically assigns a summative or essence-capturing attribute for a portion of language- based or visual data. The data can consist of interview transcripts, field notes, or journals (Saldana, 2008). The process of coding involves aggregating or focusing the text or visual data into several categories of information, seeking evidence for the code from different data bases being used in a study, and then assigning a label to the code (Creswell, 2007). Therefore, the researcher seeks to create main categories as codes and the respective answers and statements of the

participants will be assigned to these main categories (Saldana, 2008). The Appendix Figure 6 illustrates the intended mind mapping structure and coding scheme. Because it is much detailed, an extract will be given.

The interviews as primary data source are a highly efficient way to gather rich, empirical data, especially when the phenomenon of interest occurs infrequently. Data presentation is very important and case data cannot be easily or tightly summarized because much of it consists of rich qualitative detail. Finally, the researcher should provide a visual theory summary such as “boxes and arrows” diagram or summary table (Eisenhardt & Graebner, 2007).

The data interpretation and different ways to illustrate them appropriately to the audience will be presented here. Providing extensive tables or clearly represented figures and diagrams can be an essential summarized visual theory for the reader in this research process (Eisenhardt & Graebner, 2007).

It is possible that the interview environment might create influenced responses. Each interview was conducted in a formal environment at a venue of the participant’s choice, at either the interviewee’s workplace or a chosen meeting room. This allowed a level of familiarity and comfort to the proceedings (Sarantakos, 1998).

Before the main interviews took place, the researcher conducted a test run with a management accounting employee to validate the clarity and information value of each interview question. This pilot interview was conducted on 16 July 2013 and can be seen as a starting point for case study research. The aim of the pilot interview was to prepare for the main interviews and to enhance the interview technique. Although the data collection from this interview will not be used as case study findings, the responses, experiences, and reactions will be depicted in this chapter. In this case, no tables are created but findings are presented in the form of a high level process map generated from the interview contents (Figure 4.6).

Figure 4.6: High level process map generated from the pilot interview contents

In the following, the statements of the pilot interview will be summarized to show an overview of the potential responses. During the RQ1 block, the participant focused on Cognos products as mainstream report tools. In the management accounting department there is access to data structures in the DWH and to further data sources from operational systems. For employees who are involved in analysis processes, it is important to get a basic understanding of systematic- methodical approaches in order to manage data amounts. The reports are currently on an appropriate level concerning transparency, effort, and meaning. However, they have to be enhanced continuously to serve concrete business needs (pilot interview).

During the sub-questions for the second block (RQ2) the participant mentioned that the communication and transparency of business strategy should be encouraged within AOKN. That improvement would lend clarity to how BI technologies and tools could be effectively integrated in the strategy development process. “Data to decision” is a relevant topic that implicates the enhancing process of dashboards for business management. Structured data presentations should be used to make decisions. The more effective use of BI tools is essential to harmonize data contents and structures (pilot interview).

•Cognos for reporting, planning

•data analysis to fast decision •cohesive whole data access •DWH, source data bases in IT •basic understanding of syste-

matic-methodical approach •data processing skills •trainings, qualitative reports

(driver model, key ratios) •conducting evaluations for

business strategy RQ1: Can BI

technologies and tools be classified within an appropriate conceptual framework?

•force communication and transparency of bu- siness strategy

•data to decision, enhancing dashboards •more effective use

essential

RQ2: Can BI technologies and tools be effectively used and integrated into the strategy development process or not?

• comp. adv.: benefit incentives for customers

• alternative products to identify potentials (likelihood of cancellation)

• acceptance through fast multi- dim. analysis, active involve- ment of man. acc. in meetings • understanding of ratios, know-

ledge of external products • data scientist to identify data

potentials -> "let data decide" • "BI is not the end"

RQ3: Can functions and solu- tions be added to current BI technologies and tools to enhance their performances for end users and top manage- ment to gain capability?

The last question block clarifies the terms competitive advantage and capability, which means providing additional benefits to customers. Alternative products should be considered, and potentials should be identified, such as the likelihood of cancellation. The acceptance for BI technologies has to be strengthened through the active involvement of management accounting employees in professional meetings in order to raise the corporate understanding of relevant ratios. The job of data scientists could be discussed as well. In the future, these employees should be able to coax data treasures and to identify relevant data correlations with the help of algorithms (pilot interview).

In conclusion, this chapter addresses the hard-to-measure nature of the domains connected in this thesis, such as strategy or capability, through BI applications, which makes qualitative research an appropriate choice. In-depth expert interviews are given preference over other qualitative approaches such as ethnography or collaborative research. To ensure a sufficient similarity among solicited respondents, the interview groups are further focused. The interview groups are interviewed to explore the transfer of BI deployment to business strategy and potential advantages. This will guarantee a high degree of BI professionalism, flexibility, and development capabilities, which will provide high quality statements and recommendations to the researcher. Furthermore, he further can use his experience as employee in the management accounting department to develop valuable meanings or theoretical solutions. Figure 4.7 summarizes the research process and design and includes the contents and objectives of the research questions, research objectives, and the case study method with the interview groups and in-depth interviews for the data collection process.

Figure 4.7: Summary of research process and design

The case study findings in chapter 5 will examine potential BI applications that could be used to generate strategic capabilities for AOKN. Research will also focus on how BI applications can be implemented as information and control instruments in the strategy development process. The chapter gives an account of the findings and analysis of the proposed research design and method. This will be the basis for building a theory from the case, which will be analyzed further in chapters 6 and 7.