Integrating Benefits Management and Case Study Research: A Methodological Approach To Studying Analytics-Enabled Benefit Realization

This paper explores how Benefits Management (BM) can serve as a methodological approach in qualitative Information Systems research. A multi-case study of benefits realization from big data analytics capabilities demonstrates how BM provides a structured framework for analyzing how organizations generate, enable, and sustain benefits from data analytics initiatives. Specifically, BM supports the identification of enabling changes and contribution relationships, enhancing understanding of the mechanisms behind benefit realization. BM was integrated with case study research guiding data collection, shaping coding strategies, and facilitating cross-case comparisons. By incorporating a practitioner-focused, process-oriented framework into academic research, this approach bridges the gap between practice and theory, enabling researchers to capture the temporal and relational dynamics of socio-technical phenomena. Overall, this paper offers methodological guidance for IS scholars aiming to study complex scenarios where technology is introduced, providing lens that support the advancement of theorization of business benefits realization, thus, targeting an increasingly relevant topic as organizational processes become more digital and interconnected.