Review of scientific literature on BPM concept in social sciences

Abstract

The business process management (BPM) approach enhances organizational competitiveness and facilitates digital business transformations. Successful implementation of BPM necessitates a comprehensive understanding of its conceptual foundations and developmental trajectory. This study aims to investigate BPM studies in social sciences, unraveling the evolution and main pillars of the BPM concept. The research methodology comprises a bibliometric analysis of 95 articles indexed in the Web of Science Core Collection from 1997 to 2023 using the Biblioshiny App, followed by a narrative literature review of the most highly cited publications. The results unveil a notable shift in BPM research to information technologies, reflecting an interdisciplinary nature of the BPM concept (going beyond management itself). However, the analysis indicates that BPM research in social sciences tends to be specialized and localized, characterized by limited collaboration among scholars, research teams, institutions, and countries. The study identifies a diverse range of relevant research topics encompassing the maturity concept, business process, process orientation, process performance, success factors, and data and knowledge management. Process modeling and improvement emerge as central but underexplored areas, while strategic management, complexity theory, and organizational processes display declining thematic trends. The most frequently cited research papers primarily focus on enriching BPM practices through integrating digital tools and innovations, emphasizing the role of organizational culture in facilitating BPM implementation and investigating the relationship between BPM and supply chain integration and performance.