Innovating through digital revolution: The role of soft skills and Big Data inincreasing firm performance

Purpose–The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relations among soft skill, information technologiesand Big Data for building a possible bridge able to link human and technology dimensions for increasingfirm performance. Design/methodology/approach–Using the Business-focused Inventory of Personality , work personalityof 4,758 human resources engaged in 72 high-tech European firms has been analyzed and its relations withfirms’investment in Big Data and firms’economic performance have been tested using the structuralequation modeling (SEM).Findings–The research shows the existence of strong relations between some elements of human resources’personality such as the work motivation and the social competencies and the firms’economic performance.At the same time, the research clarifies the mediated effect of firms’investment in Big Data in the relationsbetween human resources’organizational behavior and the firms’economic performance.Originality/value–The paper extends previous managerial contributions about Big Data management andhuman resource management providing evidence on which build more effective managerial models in the eraof digital transformation.