Business Process Management in CEE Countries: A Literature-Based Research Landscape

Abstract

This article presents the results of a literature review on Business Process Management in the countries of Central Eastern Europe, authored by researchers affiliated to those countries. In line with the used review protocol, our study comprises 159 journal articles analyzed from a meta-perspective, including 60 empirical articles that underwent content-based analysis. While researching BPM in CEE countries, we diagnosed Management as the most-studied phenomenon among the three main areas of BPM alongside Foundations and Engineering. Among the different characteristics of BPM research diagnosed, we identified, as examples, research developments over time, and, Croatia and Slovenia as the nations most involved in BPM research. In order to identify the research gap regarding the BPM capabilities understudy, and to engage researchers in new trends combining BPM with digitalization, we used the original and updated core elements of the BPM framework. We have shown that BPM methods are the most tested, followed by Governance and Strategy Alignment. As in previous studies, elements of People and Culture are under researched. The inclusion of enhanced and novel BPM capabilities in light of digitalization is in the very early stages of research in CEE. Our studies show apparent research gaps that should be filled in line with the idea of contextual intelligence, justifying the new questions on BPM that researchers in CEE countries may post. This approach allows the drawing of new conclusions and thus contributes to the development of the BPM body of knowledge.