Emerging Evidence on the Use of Big Data and Analytics in Workplace Learning: A Systematic Literature Review

This article provides a systematic literature review about nonprofit and for-profit organizations using "big data" to inform performance improvement initiatives. The review of literature resulted in 4 peer-reviewed articles and an additional 33 studies covering the topic for these contexts. The review found that big data and analytics could be used to improve selection of staff and training interventions, cut costs, improve retention, and performance as well as meet strategic business goals, but little evidence of big data analytic methodologies actually employed in workplace training and performance improvement projects was found. Additional robust research with methodological descriptions are needed to reveal the extent to which these methodologies yield improved human performance results that positively affect strategic business goals and the bottom line. Opportunities for further research are also suggested.