Managing Big Data: The Emergence of Chief Data Officers in American Finance

• In Event: Reconfiguring State–Market Relations in Contemporary Capitalism

Abstract

Big data has become an increasingly common organizational asset, enabling a wide range of personalized services, predictive analytics, and market insights. Yet a question remains of how the diffusion of big data has been formally institutionalized within organizations. This paper examines the rise of chief data officers (CDOs) in the financial sector between 2006-2019. Results show two key processes are responsible for their emergence. First, CDOs were hired as a response to stronger regulation after the 2008 financial crisis (i.e., Dodd-Frank), which included more intensive data reporting requirements. Second, the expansion of platform businesses into financial services in the 2010s generated competitive pressure among financial incumbents, which led them to appoint CDOs as part of a broader attempt to appear more ‘data-driven.’ These results show how the proliferation of big data – and the regulatory and competitive force surrounding it – has created new organizational practices in the financial sector. I conclude with a discussion of their implications for understanding the relationship between technology, technology firms, and finance in the 21st century.

Author

• Thomas Haseloff, University of California-Berkeley