Towards the assessment of business process knowledge intensity – a systematic literature review

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Justyna Berniak-Woźny ◽  
Marek Szelągowski

PurposeThe aim of the article is to propose an integrated definition of knowledge-intensive business processes (kiBPs) and a model of business process (BP) knowledge intensity and develop holistic criteria and measures for the assessment of BP knowledge intensity.Design/methodology/approachA qualitative systematic literature review (SLR) was carried out as a means of evaluating and interpreting all available research relevant to the research topic, in this case, BP knowledge intensity. The SLR is based on the resources of the ProQuest, Springer Nature and ScienceDirect full-text databases. Regarding inclusion criteria, the authors considered peer-reviewed journals and conference proceedings published in English in the last 10 years. The results were summarized and synthesized narratively.FindingsBased on the review, the authors classified existing knowledge intensity definitions, starting with knowledge-intensive economy or country, sectors and services, through knowledge-intensive organizations, BPs, to tasks. Then, an integrated definition of kiBPs was proposed and the business process knowledge intensity model encompassing three domains developed. Finally, 12 knowledge intensity criteria with measures were proposed.Originality/valueThe major value of this research is that it presents a novel approach to understanding BP knowledge intensity and kiBPs. By creating the BP knowledge intensity model, supplemented by the assessment criteria and measures, the authors contribute to the more effective management of kiBP, help find similarities and differences between various knowledge-intensive processes, as well as provide important implications for their effective management and research.

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sérgio Guerreiro

PurposeThe purposes of this paper are: (1) to identify what types of business process operation controllers are discussed in literature and how can they be classified in order to establish the available body of knowledge in the literature, and then, (2) to identify which concepts are relevant for business process operation control and how are these concepts related in order to offer a reference model for assessing how well are control layers enforced in the dynamic stable nature of an enterprise' business processes operation.Design/methodology/approachOne cycle of the circular framework for literature review as proposed by Vom Brocke et al. (2009) is followed. Five stages are comprised: (1) definition of review scope (Section 1 and 2), (2) conceptualization of topic (Section 3), (3) literature search (Section 4), (4) literature analysis and synthesis (Section 5), and (5) definition of a research agenda (Section 6 that also concludes the paper). Vom Brocke, J., Simons, A., Niehaves, B., Niehaves, B., Reimer, K., Plattfaut, R., and Cleven, A. (2009), “Reconstructing the giant: on the importance of rigour in documenting the literature search process”, ECIS 2009 Proceedings, Vol. 161.FindingsResults indicate that (1) many studies exist in the literature, but no integrated knowledge is proposed, hindering the advance of knowledge in this field, (2) a knowledge gap exists between the implemented solutions and the conceptualization needed to generalize the solution to other contexts. Also, the ontology proposed provides a reference model for assessing the maturity of the business process control operation.Research limitations/implicationsThe contents contained in the paper needs to be further deepened to include the concepts of “business process management” and “business process mining”, as well as a semantic equivalence study between concepts can integrate better this conceptual framework and identify similarities. Then, the relationship between industries and dynamically stable business processes operation concepts have not yet been fully investigated. Thirdly, the atypical curve of interest that business processes operational control has been receiving in literature is not fully understood.Practical implicationsSome example applications that could benefit from this ontology are (1) security policy for business processes fine grained access control; (2) business processes enforced with decentralized policies, e.g. blockchain; (3) business process compliance and change; or (4) intelligent enterprise decision-making process, e.g. using AI trained neural network to support the human decision to choose if a control actuation is positive or negative instead of relying only on human-based decisions.Social implicationsWe understand that business process operation is a dynamically stable system, where steady motion is achieved with the continuous imposition of actor's actions. Therefore, all the work that contribute to the development of knowledge regarding the actor's actions in their execution environment offer the ability to optimize, and/or reengineering, business processes delivering more social value or better social conditions.Originality/valueIn the best of our knowledge this work is unique in the sense that integrates a set of concepts that is rarely, or never, combined. Table 3 corroborates this result.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (17) ◽  
pp. 6827
Author(s):  
Tahir Ahmad ◽  
Amy Van Looy

Emerging technologies have capabilities to reshape business process management (BPM) from its traditional version to a more explorative variant. However, to exploit the full benefits of new IT, it is essential to reveal BPM’s research potential and to detect recent trends in practice. Therefore, this work presents a systematic literature review (SLR) with 231 recent academic articles (from 2014 until May 2019) that integrate BPM with digital innovations (DI). We position those articles against seven future BPM-DI trends that were inductively derived from an expert panel. By complementing the expected trends in practice with a state-of-the-art literature review, we are able to derive covered and uncovered themes in order to help bridge a rigor-relevance gap. The major technological impacts within the BPM field seem to focus on value creation, customer engagement and managing human-centric and knowledge-intensive business processes. Finally, our findings are categorized into specific calls for research and for action to let scholars and organizations better prepare for future digital needs.


2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 590-606 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arvind Upadhyay ◽  
Shaheda Akter ◽  
Lindsay Adams ◽  
Vikas Kumar ◽  
Nikhil Varma

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of the different circular business models (CBMs) in the manufacturing and service sector and apply this in the context of the food industry (FI), through a systematic literature review of related published journals and articles. The research study is designed to illustrate the impact of CBMs in the manufacturing and service sectors through a combination of real-life examples and direct references to existing literature.Design/methodology/approachThe underlying research study follows a systematic literature review approach where the relevant CBMs are explored in the context of the manufacturing and service sector (FI.) The journals most cited in the context of CBMs and their implication in the manufacturing and service sector were chosen for this study. There was no fixed timeframe applied to complete the research. A total of 54 articles were selected which referenced: discussion in the context of the concept of CBMs; different types of CBM; definition of the manufacturing sector; definition of the service sector (FI); application of different CBMs in these two sectors; and included a comparison of the application of CBMs. In total, 40 of the 54 articles were shortlisted for best relevance and used in the research study.FindingsThe underlying research study was limited to 40 articles and the data contained within them. The article search was limited to the keywords of the CBM; the implication of CBM; the CBM in manufacturing (textiles); circular business in service (FI); and comparison and application of the CBM.Practical implicationsThe final analysis demonstrates that circular business promotes sustainability by allowing companies to generate maximum return from given resources and reach zero waste targets. Greater customer satisfaction is also achieved through service innovation that cuts down negative impact on the environment. These findings are relevant and applicable to the FI.Originality/valueA review of existing literature showed that whilst there is significant research on the implications of the CBM in general, there has been little focus on the use of different CBMs specifically in the manufacturing and service industry (FI). This research study is designed to tease out the specific benefits of CBMs in this context, highlighting the contribution they can make to efficiency in both the manufacturing and service sectors (FI) through useful comparison.


Author(s):  
Monica Thiel

Purpose – Beginning with a multitude of differing definitions and theories of CSR and sustainability, an analysis of the effects and impacts of the social domain to remain an untapped resource to strengthen and merge the practice of sustainable development. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – Utilizing a systematic review of literature between 1977 and 2013 about CSR and sustainability definitions and theories to reveal knowledge fragmentation in the use of the social domain and its implications within sustainable development. Findings – Identifies the gaps of the social domain in sustainable development and raises awareness to advance sustainable development beyond current sustainable development strategies, initiatives and practices. The pertinent publications from the inclusion and exclusion criteria in the systematic literature review were analyzed to determine how the social domain is used and interpreted in CSR and sustainability. Based upon the findings, four themes represent the social domain as socio-economics, stakeholders, societal well-being and social sustainability with suggestions for further research. Research limitations/implications – The systematic literature review searched one academic search engine and focussed on journals and books written in English. Originality/value – The contribution of the paper highlights, first, how an underdeveloped social domain can contribute toward multiple meanings of sustainable development and the social domain’s untapped capacity to develop a clearer standard definition of sustainable development and second, the potential to advance competitive advantage for corporations and governments.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rafael Batista Duarte ◽  
Denis Silva da Silveira ◽  
Vinícius de Albuquerque Brito ◽  
Charlie Silva Lopes

PurposeBusiness process modeling can involve multiple stakeholders, so it is natural that problems may occur during the designing and understanding processes. One way to perceive these problems is to evaluate the comprehension of business process models through the collection of data related to the readers' eye movement via an eye-tracking device. The purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive overview of the use of eye-trackers in understanding process models and to offer a research roadmap to challenge the community to address the identified limitations and open issues that require further investigation.Design/methodology/approachTo achieve this goal, Systematic Literature Review (SLR) was performed following good practices from the Evidence-Based Software Engineering's (EBSE) field.FindingsThis study resulted in 10 primary studies selected for analysis and data extraction, from the 1,482 initially retrieved. The major findings indicate that the business process community still benefits little from the use of eye-tracking, e.g. not offering sufficient support for inexperienced designers and not having an explicit standardization in its use. These and other findings are synthesized in a research roadmap which results would benefit researchers and practitioners.Originality/valueIn the studies found, the methods used to explore eyes' movement in process models' comprehension analysis were presented as an advantage of the current study. Additionally, another aspect presented in this SRL as an originality is presenting a set of open questions, suggesting valuable topics for future research through a research script (research roadmap).


Author(s):  
Christian F. Durach ◽  
Andreas Wieland ◽  
Jose A.D. Machuca

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide groundwork for an emerging theory of supply chain robustness – which has been conceptualized as a dimension of supply chain resilience – through reviewing and synthesizing related yet disconnected studies. The paper develops a formal definition of supply chain robustness to build a framework that captures the dimensions, antecedents and moderators of the construct as discussed in the literature. Design/methodology/approach – The authors apply a systematic literature review approach. In order to reduce researcher bias, they involve a team of academics, librarians and managers. Findings – The paper first, provides a formal definition of supply chain robustness; second, builds a theoretical framework of supply chain robustness that augments both causal and descriptive knowledge; third,shows how findings in this review support practice; and fourth,reveals methodological insights on the use of journal rankings in reviews. Research limitations/implications – At this stage, managers may benefit from seeing these relationships as clues derived from the literature. The paper is fundamentally a call for researchers to conduct quantitative testing of such relationships to derive more reliable understanding and practical applications. Practical implications – Rather than presenting empirical findings, this paper reveals to managers that visibility, risk management orientation and reduced network complexity have been the main predictive antecedents of supply chain robustness (as discussed in the academic literature). This provides a potentially important signal as to where to invest resources. Originality/value – The study is the first to develop a formal definition of supply chain robustness and to establish a comprehensive theoretical framework for understanding the construct.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yanina Chevtchouk ◽  
Cleopatra Veloutsou ◽  
Robert A. Paton

Purpose The marketing literature uses five different experience terms that are supposed to represent different streams of research. Many papers do not provide a definition, most of the used definitions are unclear, the different experience terms have similar dimensionality and are regularly used interchangeably or have the same meaning. In addition, the existing definitions are not adequately informed from other disciplines that have engaged with experience. This paper aims to build a comprehensive conceptual framework of experience in marketing informed by related disciplines aiming to provide a more holistic definition of the term. Design/methodology/approach This research follows previously established procedures by conducting a systematic literature review of experience. From the approximately 5,000 sources identified in three disciplines, 267 sources were selected, marketing (148), philosophy (90) and psychology (29). To address definitional issues the analysis focused on enlightening four premises. Findings This paper posits that the term brand experience can be used in all marketing-related experiences and proposes four premises that may resolve the vagaries associated with the term’s conceptualization. The four premises address the what, who, how and when of brand experience and aim to rectify conceptual issues. Brand experience is introduced as a multi-level phenomenon. Research limitations/implications The suggested singular term, brand experience, captures all experiences in marketing. The identified additional elements of brand experience, such as the levels of experience and the revision of emotions within brand experience as a continuum, tempered by repetition, should be considered in future research. Practical implications The multi-level conceptualization may provide a greater scope for dynamic approaches to brand experience design thus providing greater opportunities for managers to create sustainable competitive advantages and differentiation from competitors. Originality/value This paper completes a systematic literature review of brand experience across marketing, philosophy and psychology which delineates and enlightens the conceptualization of brand experience and presents brand experience in a multi-level conceptualization, opening the possibility for further theoretical, methodological and interdisciplinary promise.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ximena Alejandra Flechas Chaparro ◽  
Leonardo Augusto de Vasconcelos Gomes

PurposeEntrepreneurs' pivot decisions are poorly understood. The purpose of this paper is to review the existing literature on pivot decisions to identify the different conceptualizations, research streams and main theoretical building blocks and to offer a baseline framework for future studies on this phenomenon.Design/methodology/approachA systematic literature review of 86 peer-reviewed papers published between January 2008 and October 2020, focusing on the pivot decision in startups, was performed through bibliometric, descriptive and content analyses.FindingsThe literature review identifies four research streams concerning the pivot concept – pivot design, cognitive, negotiation and environmental perspectives. Building on previous studies, this paper provides a refined definition of a pivot that bridges elements from the four research streams identified: a pivot comprises strategic decisions made after a failure (or in the face of potential failure) of the current business model and leads to changes in the firm's course of action, resource reconfiguration and possible modifications of one or more business model elements. This study proposes a framework that elaborates the pivot literature by identifying four stages of the pivot process addressed in the existing literature: recognition, generating options, seizing and testing and reconfiguration.Originality/valueThis study provides a comprehensive review, enabling researchers to establish a baseline for developing future pivot research. Furthermore, it improves the conceptualization of pivots by summarizing prior definitions and proposing a refined definition that places decision-making and judgment at its center. That introduces new contextual and behavioral elements, contributing to a better understanding of how entrepreneurs assess alternative courses of action and envision possible outcomes to redirect a venture after failure.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gianluca Solazzo ◽  
Gianluca Elia ◽  
Giuseppina Passiante

Purpose This study aims to investigate the Big Social Data (BSD) paradigm, which still lacks a clear and shared definition, and causes a lack of clarity and understanding about its beneficial opportunities for practitioners. In the knowledge management (KM) domain, a clear characterization of the BSD paradigm can lead to more effective and efficient KM strategies, processes and systems that leverage a huge amount of structured and unstructured data sources. Design/methodology/approach The study adopts a systematic literature review (SLR) methodology based on a mixed analysis approach (unsupervised machine learning and human-based) applied to 199 research articles on BSD topics extracted from Scopus and Web of Science. In particular, machine learning processing has been implemented by using topic extraction and hierarchical clustering techniques. Findings The paper provides a threefold contribution: a conceptualization and a consensual definition of the BSD paradigm through the identification of four key conceptual pillars (i.e. sources, properties, technology and value exploitation); a characterization of the taxonomy of BSD data type that extends previous works on this topic; a research agenda for future research studies on BSD and its applications along with a KM perspective. Research limitations/implications The main limits of the research rely on the list of articles considered for the literature review that could be enlarged by considering further sources (in addition to Scopus and Web of Science) and/or further languages (in addition to English) and/or further years (the review considers papers published until 2018). Research implications concern the development of a research agenda organized along with five thematic issues, which can feed future research to deepen the paradigm of BSD and explore linkages with the KM field. Practical implications Practical implications concern the usage of the proposed definition of BSD to purposefully design applications and services based on BSD in knowledge-intensive domains to generate value for citizens, individuals, companies and territories. Originality/value The original contribution concerns the definition of the big data social paradigm built through an SLR the combines machine learning processing and human-based processing. Moreover, the research agenda deriving from the study contributes to investigate the BSD paradigm in the wider domain of KM.


2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 155-175 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronaldo Bernardo ◽  
Simone Vasconcelos Ribeiro Galina ◽  
Silvia Inês Dallavalle de Pádua

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to develop a conceptual framework that incorporates factors external to the organization into the business process management (BPM) lifecycle through dynamic capabilities (DCs), beginning with strategy and persisting through the business process transformation. Design/methodology/approach The study comprised four distinct phases. First, a literature review was conducted to identify validated theoretical models related to the topic. Then, a systematic review of the literature was conducted by accessing the EBSCOhost, ISI/Web of Science and Scopus databases, for the purpose of understanding how the relationship between BPM and DCs has been addressed. The third step was the identification of the meta-capabilities involved in the relationship between DC and BPM, the fourth step was the construction of a framework that integrated an external view into BPM through DC, and the final step evaluated these framework through a case study. Findings Ten texts were selected after a systematic literature review. The following main points of convergence were identified: DC contributes to the conceptualization and understanding of BPM, DC assists in the process of organizational change by promoting the adaptation of the company to the environment, and DC enhances BPM performance. A framework was developed and presented. Practical implications The proposed framework, which incorporates an external perspective into the BPM lifecycle through DCs, can be used by managers and researchers interested in the promotion of BPM. Originality/value The study shows how the sensing, seizing and transforming meta-capabilities can act to evaluate the outside-in perspective, serve as a benchmark for the alignment of business processes and enable the operationalization of emerging demands through the dynamic adaptation of processes.


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