IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/inm/orinte/v50y2020i4p239-254.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Delivering Business Analytics Competencies and Skills: A Supply Side Assessment

Author

Listed:
  • Kala C. Seal

    (Department of Information Systems and Business Analytics, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, California 90045)

  • Linda A. Leon

    (Department of Information Systems and Business Analytics, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, California 90045)

  • Zbigniew H. Przasnyski

    (Department of Information Systems and Business Analytics, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, California 90045)

  • Greg Lontok

    (Department of Information Systems and Business Analytics, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, California 90045)

Abstract

This paper investigates the alignment of the demand side of business analytics (based on advertised job positions) with the supply side (based on the university curricula of U.S. business analytics programs). We text-mined job advertisements and core and elective course descriptions to identify the competencies demanded by business analytics–related jobs and those being taught in graduate analytics programs that include a business component. A comparative analysis of the competencies reveals that, although some of the competencies required by the jobs are taught adequately at the universities, a few key concepts and topics are not covered at sufficient depth as needed by the jobs. The research also shows that many traditional analytics topics are being over-taught at the universities when compared with the demand, whereas some key soft skills are not addressed at a sufficient level in many programs. The study provides a basis for future comparison of data-science positions and programs with the jobs and programs in business analytics.

Suggested Citation

  • Kala C. Seal & Linda A. Leon & Zbigniew H. Przasnyski & Greg Lontok, 2020. "Delivering Business Analytics Competencies and Skills: A Supply Side Assessment," Interfaces, INFORMS, vol. 50(4), pages 239-254, July.
  • Handle: RePEc:inm:orinte:v:50:y:2020:i:4:p:239-254
    DOI: 10.1287/inte.2020.1043
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1287/inte.2020.1043
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1287/inte.2020.1043?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Melissa R. Bowers & Jeffrey D. Camm & Goutam Chakraborty, 2018. "The Evolution of Analytics and Implications for Industry and Academic Programs," Interfaces, INFORMS, vol. 48(6), pages 487-499, November.
    2. Coleen R. Wilder & Ceyhun O. Ozgur, 2015. "Business Analytics Curriculum for Undergraduate Majors," INFORMS Transactions on Education, INFORMS, vol. 15(2), pages 180-187, January.
    3. Stefan Debortoli & Oliver Müller & Jan Brocke, 2014. "Comparing Business Intelligence and Big Data Skills," Business & Information Systems Engineering: The International Journal of WIRTSCHAFTSINFORMATIK, Springer;Gesellschaft für Informatik e.V. (GI), vol. 6(5), pages 289-300, October.
    4. ManMohan S. Sodhi & Byung-Gak Son & Christopher S. Tang, 2008. "ASP, The Art and Science of Practice: What Employers Demand from Applicants for MBA-Level Supply Chain Jobs and the Coverage of Supply Chain Topics in MBA Courses," Interfaces, INFORMS, vol. 38(6), pages 469-484, December.
    5. Michael F. Gorman & Ronald K. Klimberg, 2014. "Benchmarking Academic Programs in Business Analytics," Interfaces, INFORMS, vol. 44(3), pages 329-341, June.
    6. M S Sodhi & B-G Son, 2010. "Content analysis of OR job advertisements to infer required skills," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 61(9), pages 1315-1327, September.
    7. Linda A. Leon & Kala Chand Seal & Zbigniew H. Przasnyski & Ian Wiedenman, 2017. "Skills and Competencies Required for Jobs in Business Analytics: A Content Analysis of Job Advertisements Using Text Mining," International Journal of Business Intelligence Research (IJBIR), IGI Global, vol. 8(1), pages 1-25, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Aaron Babier & Craig Fernandes & Ian Yihang Zhu, 2023. "Advising Student-Driven Analytics Projects: A Summary of Experiences and Lessons Learned," INFORMS Transactions on Education, INFORMS, vol. 23(2), pages 121-135, January.
    2. Wendy Swenson Roth & Brett P. Matherne, 2023. "Case Article—Using Moneyball to Introduce Students to Data Analytics: Illustrating the Data Analytics Life Cycle," INFORMS Transactions on Education, INFORMS, vol. 24(1), pages 1-5, September.
    3. Paula Carroll, 2023. "Analytics Modules for Business Students," SN Operations Research Forum, Springer, vol. 4(2), pages 1-20, June.
    4. Chun-Miin (Jimmy) Chen, 2020. "Introduction to Probability: Bison Hold’em Poker Game," INFORMS Transactions on Education, INFORMS, vol. 20(3), pages 154-164, May.
    5. Melissa R. Bowers & Kenneth C. Gilbert & Charles E. Noon, 2019. "Innovative Collaboration Between Industry and Academics: Meeting Industry’s Future Talent Requirements," Service Science, INFORMS, vol. 49(6), pages 397-406, November.
    6. Michael F. Gorman, 2016. "Editorial: The 11th Rothkopf Rankings: 28 Years of Tracking Applied Research in Academia," Interfaces, INFORMS, vol. 46(3), pages 264-276, June.
    7. Rosita Capurro & Michele Galeotti & Stefano Garzella, 2018. ""Mondo reale-tradizionale" e "mondo digitale", strategie aziendali e web intelligence: il futuro del controllo e della gestione delle informazioni," MANAGEMENT CONTROL, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2018(2 Suppl.), pages 83-111.
    8. Danny Weathers & Scott D. Swain, 2024. "A scaffolded learning approach to increasing student comfort with Microsoft Excel," Journal of Marketing Analytics, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 12(2), pages 198-208, June.
    9. Patrick Föll & Frédéric Thiesse, 2021. "Exploring Information Systems Curricula," Business & Information Systems Engineering: The International Journal of WIRTSCHAFTSINFORMATIK, Springer;Gesellschaft für Informatik e.V. (GI), vol. 63(6), pages 711-732, December.
    10. João Reis, 2023. "Exploring Applications and Practical Examples by Streamlining Material Requirements Planning (MRP) with Python," Logistics, MDPI, vol. 7(4), pages 1-19, December.
    11. Flávio Tiago & Pedro Correia & Victor-Alexandru Briciu & Teresa Borges-Tiago, 2021. "Geotourism Destinations Online Branding Co-Creation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-18, August.
    12. Jasmien Lismont & Tine Van Calster & María Óskarsdóttir & Seppe vanden Broucke & Bart Baesens & Wilfried Lemahieu & Jan Vanthienen, 2019. "Closing the Gap Between Experts and Novices Using Analytics-as-a-Service: An Experimental Study," Business & Information Systems Engineering: The International Journal of WIRTSCHAFTSINFORMATIK, Springer;Gesellschaft für Informatik e.V. (GI), vol. 61(6), pages 679-693, December.
    13. Matthew J. Drake, 2024. "Case Article—Creating a Brick Empire Through Data Visualization and Analytics," INFORMS Transactions on Education, INFORMS, vol. 24(3), pages 271-277, May.
    14. Melissa R. Bowers & Jeffrey D. Camm & Goutam Chakraborty, 2018. "The Evolution of Analytics and Implications for Industry and Academic Programs," Interfaces, INFORMS, vol. 48(6), pages 487-499, November.
    15. Michael F. Gorman, 2017. "Interfaces Editor’s Statement," Interfaces, INFORMS, vol. 47(1), pages 1-3, February.
    16. Amy L. Phelps & Kathryn A. Szabat, 2017. "The Current Landscape of Teaching Analytics to Business Students at Institutions of Higher Education: Who is Teaching What?," The American Statistician, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 71(2), pages 155-161, April.
    17. Jing Lu, 2020. "Data Analytics Research-Informed Teaching in a Digital Technologies Curriculum," INFORMS Transactions on Education, INFORMS, vol. 20(2), pages 57-72, January.
    18. Ramayya Krishnan & Alfred Blumstein & Jon Nehlsen, 2018. "Designing and Sustaining an Award-Winning Analytics Educational Program: The Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University," Interfaces, INFORMS, vol. 48(4), pages 372-383, August.
    19. Nimmagadda, Shastri L. & Reiners, Torsten & Wood, Lincoln C., 2018. "On big data-guided upstream business research and its knowledge management," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 143-158.
    20. Cheri Speier-Pero, 2018. "Leveraging Experiential Field Projects—Discovery Learning in a Masters in Analytics Program," INFORMS Transactions on Education, INFORMS, vol. 18(3), pages 162-173, May.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:inm:orinte:v:50:y:2020:i:4:p:239-254. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Asher (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/inforea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.