Practical Wisdom and Big Data Dilemmas: The Case of the Swedish Transport Administration

Using big data in organizations has the potential to improve innovation, accuracy, and efficiency. Big data is also connected with risks for both the organization and society at large. It is therefore important to improve our understanding of potential consequences of implementing and using big data. We studied the Swedish Transport Administration to understand their attitude towards implementing big data for prediction of, for example, the need for road maintenance. The analysis identified four moral dilemmas that the organization deals with in connection to big data. We discuss these dilemmas from the perspective of practical wisdom. Practical wisdom is manifested in context-dependent actions connected to open-mindedness, reflection and judgment. It can be summed up as “the reasonable thing to do” in a unique situation where “not-knowing” is a helpful resource when making wise decisions. This paper seeks to shed light on the importance of practical wisdom when implementing big data.