Big data in the brazilian public health sector: concept, characteristics, benefits, and challenges

Big Data (BD) has arisen as a strategic way to manage and process varied and elevated volumes of information that are published these days. In this context, the purpose of this article is to investigate the adoption of BD for the management of financial resources related to Brazilian public health services and activities, in the perception of the actors involved. Using the multimethod approach, we propose a concept of BD in the public health sector; characterize the adoption of BD in an organization within this sector with attributes such as volume, velocity, variety, value, veracity, variability, and visualization; and finally, identify categories and variables in the literature which are related to the challenges and benefits that are present and absent in this phenomenon, as well as new variables related to two managerial benefits: sustainability and leadership support. The results offer an opportunity to understand the use of BD in the Brazilian public health sector, especially for the efficient management of the resources used to create collective value in public health.