Data Liquidity: Conceptualization, Measurement and Determinants

Despite the rhetoric that “data is the new oil” organizations continue to face challenges in data monetization, and we don’t have a reliable way to measure how easily data assets can be reused and recombined in value creation and appropriation efforts. Data asset liquidity is a critical, yet underexamined, prerequisite for data monetization initiatives. We contribute to the theorizing process by advancing a definition, conceptualization, and measurement of data liquidity as an asset level construct. Based on interviews with 95 Chief Data and Analytics Officers from 67 distinct large global organizations, we identify three determinants of data liquidity: inherent asset characteristics, structural asset characteristics, and asset environment characteristics. We theorize the existence of equifinal configurations that yield liquid data assets, configurations that should prove helpful to academics and practitioners seeking to understand data liquidity and its impact on firms’ data monetization efforts as well as society at large