A model of business intelligence systems use in Chinese Organizations

The transferability of many Western-based information system theories to other cultures is under-researched. Business intelligence (BI) has topped CIOs' technology priority list for years and BI is currently the largest IT spend. Chinese BI markets have great potential based on its fast-growth economy. Unlike the West, China adopts a different culture and a different management philosophy. This paper investigates whether Chinese culture changes our understanding of BI systems use. Guanxi and constructs from the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) are applied in two large Chinese organizations, where UTAUT constructs cannot explain Chinese managerial BI use. A model of Chinese BI use (MCBIU), consisted of a foundation, an alignment, and an outcome layer, is proposed to fill this gap. This model is the major theoretical contribution of this paper. This paper also contributes to practice by improving Chinese managers', BI consultants' and developers' understanding of the topic.