Investigating the Critical Challenges in Leveraging Big Data Analytics to Drive Strategic Business Decisions in the Caribbean Public Sector: A Case of Jamaica

The private sector improves performance using big data analytics (BDA), (Rodriquez, Palomino & Mondaca, 2017), while the public sector seemingly struggles to leverage BDA. This study investigated the critical challenges faced by Jamaican public sector firms (JPSF) in leveraging BDA for sector optimization. Guided by open systems and decision-making theories, this quantitative study followed stratified random probability sampling. Online survey questionnaire targeted data professionals & technicians, managers and executives across 300 government firms between June 2023 to June 2024. One-sample t test coupled with rigorous Chi Square and Cramér’s V correlational analysis were performed to test associations, alignment or variations in the results.
Strong statistically significant relationships were observed between the variables with poor data quality (PDQ) emerging as the most critical challenge for the sector followed by organizational culture (OC). Lack of awareness of BDA technologies was the least critical of the challenges. Respondents viewed investments in BDA technologies, expertise & training (IBDA) as the most suitable treatment strategy for PDQ, while improvements in data regulations (IDR) were found to be the most suitable to treat ethics privacy & security (EPS) concerns and legacy systems (LS). If the Government of Jamaica (GOJ) does not respond quickly to the rapid evolution in BDA and improves its data quality the sector may remain badly behind the curve. Targeted initiatives are needed to transform the Jamaican public sector toward a more data centered culture. The study recommends IBDA redefine strategies to improve data management policies and procedures coupled with mandatory data and system assessment for sustainable data integrity, privacy and security. Future research opportunities include metrics to test GOJ’s agility and adaptability to technological changes, cyber security risks in an e-Commerce Caribbean, and how to mitigate privacy issues using BDA technologies.