The Impact of Emerging Data Sources and Social Media on Decision Making: A Culturally Responsive Framework

Abstract

Emerging data sources are gaining popularity because of their accessibility, pervasiveness, and enormous potential. Blogs, images, Twitter, Foursquare (location sharing), and Flickr (photography) are significant sources of information regarding human activities. There are several elements that influence decision making behavior at the individual, group, and organizational levels, including information technology and decision support systems. Recent advancements in user interfaces for social tools, in conjunction with an increase in the usage of mobile wireless computers, have resulted in the creation of social networks that are instantaneous, widely distributed, mostly unmanaged, and pervasive. The proliferation of information and communication technologies continues to open new doors. In the age of big data and new data sources, the challenge for modern businesses is to align their decision making and organizational processes with data that could help them make more informed decisions. The study also proposed a culturally responsive framework that entails emotioncy and cultuling analysis to support institutions in the process of decision making when using emerging data sources.

Keywords

• social media
• decisions making
• emerging data sources
• emotioncy
• cultuling