Design and Validation of a Business Intelligence Capabilities Model Affecting Sustainable Performance in Comprehensive Online Retailers in Iran: A Mixed-Methods Approach Using Systematic Review, Delphi, ISM, and SEM

Abstract

The present study aimed to design and validate a business intelligence (BI) capabilities model for sustainable performance in comprehensive online retailers in Iran. The study sought to identify dimensions and components that, through their systematic interactions, facilitate the effective utilization of business intelligence to achieve sustainable performance within Iran’s e-commerce ecosystem. The research employed an exploratory mixed-methods approach and was conducted in qualitative and quantitative phases. In the qualitative phase, the initial components of the model were identified and extracted through a systematic review of the literature and semi-structured interviews with 12 experts. Subsequently, a three-round Delphi method was employed to validate and refine the identified components. Interpretive structural modeling (ISM) was then used to explain the structural relationships among the dimensions. In the quantitative phase, the research hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling (SEM) based on data collected from 384 managers, experts, and employees of comprehensive online retailers in Iran. The findings resulted in the identification of six main dimensions—organizational, technological, human, process, environmental, and knowledge, learning, and innovation—and 27 components. The Delphi results indicated that the experts reached an acceptable level of consensus regarding the importance and relevance of the identified components, with Kendall’s coefficient of concordance increasing from 0.561 in the first round to 0.689 in the third round. The ISM results demonstrated that the environmental and organizational dimensions play foundational roles in shaping the other dimensions; the human, technological, and process dimensions occupy intermediate levels in the model structure; and the knowledge, learning, and innovation dimension is more strongly influenced by the other dimensions. Furthermore, the SEM results showed that all research hypotheses were supported: the organizational and environmental dimensions had positive and significant effects on the technological, human, and process dimensions; these dimensions positively and significantly affected the knowledge dimension; and the knowledge dimension, in turn, positively and significantly influenced sustainable performance. In addition, the knowledge dimension played a positive and significant mediating role in the relationships between the principal dimensions of the model and sustainable performance.