How to go from strategy to results? Institutionalising BPM governance within organisations

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine how business process management (BPM) is incorporated within organisational structure. The authors demonstrate how a strategic interest in BPM and formal responsibilities for BPM activities shape the efficiency, quality and agility of BPM initiatives. By conducting field research, useful empirical insights were drawn about the necessary conditions for ensuring the success of BPM initiatives. Design/methodology/approach – A questionnaire survey of BPM adoption practices was conducted among private- and public-sector organisations with more than 50 employees. A cross-national sample of 60 Croatian and 51 Slovenian companies is analysed by applying a subsampling strategy and using inferential statistics methods. Findings – The study clearly shows how particular structural decisions can foster the operational excellence of BPM initiatives. Formal process roles and specialised BPM units were recognised as important drivers of organisational success. In addition, how strategic support and related structural choices create a synergistic effect and make process efforts worthwhile is explained. Practical implications – The research findings offer useful benchmarking of current BPM practices. The developed BPM commitment matrix represents a simple tool for self-assessment. Its path-dependent logic provides guidelines for improving the outcomes of BPM governance in general, and BPM initiatives specifically. Originality/value – The paper extends previous research by showing the performance effects of several BPM governance practices. The results clearly suggest that the best outcomes of BPM initiatives were achieved by organisations that had introduced a strategic approach to BPM, along with having defined a centralised BPM responsibility and assigned decentralised process ownership roles.