Leveraging and Being Leveraged by Big Data and AI: An Exploration of Tech Strategists’ Sensemaking of Human–Machine Dynamics in Strategic Decision-Making

Abstract: It is amidst the digital saturation of life, globalised interconnections, and accelerated global AI market growth that we are witnessing today that new complexities and challenges emerge in strategically navigating these environments. This thesis explores the emerging dynamics of strategy and Big Data and Artificial Intelligence through a qualitative research design employing semi-structured expert interviews and conventional qualitative content analysis. The aim is to gain a deeper understanding of the perspectives of people working at the intersection of strategy and Big Data and Artificial Intelligence. Therefore, we pursue the question of How do tech strategists make sense of the dynamics of strategic thinking and BD & AI in strategic decision-making? We argue that there is a perceived necessity for a symbiotic relationship between human strategic thinking and Artificial Intelligence. This is understood as a mutually enabling and augmenting dynamic allowing for more efficient navigation in complex system environments. Underpinning these dynamics are socio-technical logics, which construct specific fields of possibilities. These socio-technical dynamics have implications reaching beyond the confines of individual organisations. They reach the very fabric of society and, ultimately, how we continuously construct our own realities.