Identification of appropriate responsibilities and positions for business process management success : Seeking a valid and reliable framework

Purpose – Identifying appropriate responsibilities and positions needed for successful business process management (BPM) initiatives has become a challenge. Past research efforts have been based on homogenous small samples. The purpose of this paper is to validate a BPM position and responsibility framework among a larger BPM community, by measuring the framework's validity, reliability, and level of agreement among BPM professionals. Design/methodology/approach – A survey of 111 BPM practitioners (19 percent outside of the USA), representing 98 different organizations (primarily in business services, manufacturing, public administration, and finance), was conducted to measure the construct validity and reliability of an existing BPM position and responsibility framework. Findings – The results indicate that the BPM responsibilities possess adequate reliability, and that the framework demonstrates excellent convergent and discriminant validity. BPM professionals indicated significant agreement with the four proposed BPM positions, along with responsibilities associated with the three higher level BPM positions. Interesting patterns of disagreement emerged for responsibilities associated with the lowest level BPM position. Research limitations/implications – This study furthers the understanding of BPM competencies required for BPM success. Continued research efforts are needed to understand how this BPM position and responsibility framework can work in actual BPM settings. Practical implications – This research relates to process organization and the core competencies required for BPM initiatives, assisting in the identification and alignment of appropriate responsibilities and positions required for BPM success. Originality/value – This paper represents the first large‐scale study of industry best practices in defining and validating positions and responsibilities associated with the BPM field of work.