Are big data talents different from business intelligence expertise?: Evidence from text mining using job recruitment advertisements

As more and more companies become aware of the benefits of collecting and analyzing data, hiring employee with data analytics expertise is a key issue faced by HR practitioners. Although previous research empirically highlighted the differences of knowledge and skill requirements between big data (BD) and business intelligence (BI) in English-speaking countries, limited similar study is conducted in China. By analyzing and interpreting the topic modeling results with dataset extracted from online job recruitment website Zhaopin.com, this exploratory study reveals that (1) the demand for BD competencies is far bigger (nearly six times) than the demand for BI competencies in China job market; (2) for Chinese employer, hard skills, especially those advanced analytic and programming skills, are much emphasized when HR searching for qualified BD applicants; (3) given the large volume and unstructured nature of big data, BD investments are currently much more human-capital-intensive than BI projects are. Our findings not only enhance the understanding of similarities and differences in BI and BD areas of competency but also provide guidance for organizations to choose suitable HR decisions.