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Business Process Management and Digital Innovations: A Systematic Literature Review

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  • Tahir Ahmad

    (Department of Business Informatics and Operations Management, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Ghent University, 9000 Ghent, Belgium)

  • Amy Van Looy

    (Department of Business Informatics and Operations Management, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Ghent University, 9000 Ghent, Belgium)

Abstract

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Tahir Ahmad & Amy Van Looy, 2020. "Business Process Management and Digital Innovations: A Systematic Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(17), pages 1-30, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:17:p:6827-:d:402723
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    2. Reihaneh Hajishirzi & Carlos J. Costa & Manuela Aparicio, 2022. "Boosting Sustainability through Digital Transformation’s Domains and Resilience," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(3), pages 1-16, February.
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    5. Ivan Belev, 2024. "Combining digital business automation technologies," Innovative Information Technologies for Economy Digitalization (IITED), University of National and World Economy, Sofia, Bulgaria, issue 1, pages 305-312, October.
    6. Haneen Allataifeh & Sedigheh Moghavvemi, 2021. "The Individual Dimension of Digital Innovation: The Altered Roles of Innovation Agents and Market Actors," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-21, August.
    7. Andi Abdul Dzuljalali Wal Ikram & Muslim Salam & M. Ramli AT & Sawedi Muhammad, 2025. "Employing Structural Equation Modeling to Examine the Determinants of Work Motivation and Performance Management in BUMDES: In Search of Key Driver Factors in Promoting Sustainable Rural Development S," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(15), pages 1-44, July.
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    9. Itzhak Aviv & Irit Hadar & Meira Levy, 2021. "Knowledge Management Infrastructure Framework for Enhancing Knowledge-Intensive Business Processes," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(20), pages 1-32, October.

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