The digital economy, big data and social media: implications for the practice of management research NEMODE PDW BAM Conference 9-11 September, 2014 Dr Richard Adams, University of Exeter Dr Mark Coté, Kings College London Dr. Albrecht Fritzsche, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg Dr Juan Mateos-Garcia, NESTA Dr Tobias Preis, Warwick Business School Dr Helene Snee, Manchester Metropolitan University

Some challenges of big data and social media data for management research Volume, variety, velocity (veracity) – A whole new mode of engagement with data? Limitations of working with big data/social media data – Is big data universal data? Research ethics – Do we need to reconsider our approach? Researcher skills profile – Who needs help implementing a computational approach to their research? Theory versus data mining – What is the role of theory in the big data/social media data context? Presentation of findings – What is the life expectancy for the dominant dissemination paradigm?

Discussion topics Scholars may require a variety of different types of support in order to meaningfully integrate new practices into their research: what would be appropriate? – conceptual help in understanding how digital research activities and methodologies can be thoughtfully integrated into your research – technical support for implementing digital research activities and methodologies (How) can big data/social media data be used as a resource for social scientists? What can be the unique contribution of social scientists in an era of big data and social media data? How do social scientists react to the mass of social data being generated, gathered and used by others?