BEYOND DATA COLLECTION: EXAMINING ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE DATA CREATION IN ORGANIZATIONS

Current management literature conceptualizes “data collection” as a bounded process involving technical work, limited interaction between stakeholders, and finite time. In our study of a healthcare organization developing AI systems, we found our participants engage in a process of data creation involving expansive interactions across different occupations, spanning many organizational practices, and involving diverse stakeholders. Our findings uncovered consequential, but overlooked, components of the expansive data creation process. Rather than conceptualizing data as collected through a bounded process, our study highlights how data is actively created through an expansive, iterative approach within organizations. We discuss the theoretical and empirical implications of our results for organizations pursuit of transformational technologies.