SMART DATA MANAGEMENT AND DECISION-MAKING EFFICIENCY OF AIRLINE OPERATORS IN RIVERS STATE

Abstract

The study investigated the relationship between smart data management and decision-making efficiency of airline operators in Rivers State. The objective of the study was to empirically determine the relationship between smart data management and decision-making efficiency of airline operators in Rivers State, especially in terms of operational response time and resource utilization effectiveness. The study made use of cross-sectional explanatory survey research design. The population of the study consisted of eleven (11) airline operators in Rivers State. The entire population of eleven (11) airline operators in Rivers State were used for the study without sampling. Therefore, the sample size of the study comprised eleven (11) airline operators in Rivers State. As pertaining to respondents, six managers (airline operations manager, fleet manager, crew manager, safety manager, and finance manager customer service manager) were chosen from each of the airline operators, which gave a total of 66 respondents. Structured questionnaire was used as instrument for data collection. The validation of the instrument was done by some experts in Office and Information Management, Ignatius Ajuru University of Education, Port Harcourt. Cronbach Alpha was used to ascertain the reliability of the instrument. A total of sixty-six (66) copies of the questionnaire was administered and 58 copies were retrieved. The primary data obtained from the field were analyzed using Pearson Product Moment Correlation in SPSS version 27.0 for the bivariate analysis. The result of the analyses showed that there is a very strong positive relationship between smart data management and decision-making effectiveness of airline operators in Rivers State, especially in terms of operational response time and resource utilization effectiveness. The study concluded that airline operators that fail to adopt smart data management risk being left behind, as efficiency in decision-making has become the new currency for survival and growth. It was recommended, among others, that airline operators should deploy centralized smart data platforms that integrate real-time data from operations, customer service, and logistics to support faster and evidence-based decisions, thereby reducing delays and in efficiencies.