Abstract

Business intelligence (BI) system is a crucial helper that enables SMEs to improve the effectiveness of decision-making. Despite they utilize their experience in decision-making processes. And empirical evidence on the effects of business intelligence on decision-making in Afghanistan remains limited. The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between business intelligence and decision-making effectiveness in SMEs which operate in Khost province. The primary data were collected through a structured questionnaire which was distributed among 384 top/middle level managers and data analyst employees of SMEs in Khost province. A simple random sample technique is used. A total of 379 questionnaires were returned, 16 were invalid, eliminated from analysis, and 363 were valid, which were analyzed using SPSS and SmartPLSv.4.1.1.8. PLS_SEM technique is employed to test the proposed hypotheses. The finding appeared that BI usage positively and significantly influences decision-making, with a path coefficient (β=0.278, p=0.000), and information quality demonstrated a stronger positive effect on decision-making with (β=0.691, p=0.000) path coefficient. The finding indicates if SMEs effectively utilize business intelligence systems, they can improve decision-making effectiveness. This study contributes practically by providing insights for SMEs managers regarding the importance of digital transformation and BI adoption, theoretically by the extending Resource Based View theory within the context of Afghan SMEs. The study recommends SMEs to invest in BI technologies to strengthen their decisions through accurate, timely and valuable information.

Keywords

Business Intelligence Decision-Making Information Quality PLS-SEM Resource-Based View SMEs