In this chapter—based on the multi-theoretical framework developed in the previous chapter—three research models around BPS are derived in subsections 3.1 to 3.3. These research models shed light on the consequences/value dimensions of BPS (i.e. analyze the impact of BPS on business process performance and its sub-dimensions time, cost, and quality, as well as on business process flexibility).1 In a first step, the chapter introduces the three research models which are used and evaluated throughout the remainder of this book. In a second step, the chapter introduces the individual constructs used in the three research models. Finally, Section 3 establishes links between the constructs and derives a set of research hypotheses per model.2
The use of models does not necessarily lead to good policies, but it does avoid the worst possibilities. (Arrow, 2004)
Top4.1 Overview And Development Of Models
In this section we will introduce the three research models (compare Figure 1) on which the main part of this book will focus.
Figure 1. Overview of research models (basic, detailed and extended research model)
As discussed in section 3.1 within this book we focus on analyzing business process standards and business process standardization within the boundaries of a preselected focal organization. Building upon the IT business value model developed by Melville et al. (2004), we derived our BPS value model (compare Figure 4 in Chapter 3). By specifically zooming in on the link from “business processes” to “consequences/value dimensions of BPS” we aim at analyzing the BPS value creation on selected consequences/value dimensions (e.g. business process performance or business process flexibility) on process level, because recent research promotes a process-level perspective (compare section 4.2.2).
In the following the three models will be developed, starting with an overview of the model (this section), followed by collecting the constructs into the model (section 4.2), and finally theoretically deriving and adding the hypothesized linkages between the introduced constructs into the models (section 4.3).
The first research model is the “basic research model” in which we postulate and analyze a direct impact of business process standardization (BPS) on business process performance (BPP). Compared to the other two research models it is the most simple one and focuses on the fundamental direct impact of BPS on BPP.
The second research model is the “detailed research model” in which we zoom in on the business process standardization value creation with respect to its consequence/value dimension business process performance (BPP) that we sub-divide into the three consequence/value dimensions business process time (BPT), business process cost (BPC) and business process quality (BPQ). Hence, in contrast to the first, the basic research model, it allows to understand the business process standardization value creation with respect to each of the three consequences/value dimensions BPT, BPC and BPQ independently.
Finally, the third research model is the “extended research model” in which a) besides business process performance (BPP) we add business process flexibility (BPF) as dependent variable and b) we distinguish between analyzing the impact of, on the one hand, business process standardization – homogenization (BPS-H) only, and, on the other hand, business process standardization – combined homogenization and optimization (BPS-H+O) on the dependent variables BPP and BPF3.
- 1.
Basic Research Model (BM): Analyzing the direct impact Business Process Standardization (BPS) on Business Process Performance (BPP) (sub-section 4.3.1)
- 2.
Detailed Research Model (DM): Analyzing the impact of BPS on the performance dimensions Business Process Time (BPT), Business Process Cost (BPC) and Business Process Quality (BPQ) (sub-section 4.3.2)
- 3.
Extended Research Model (EM): Analyzing the impact of both Business Process Standardization – Homogenization (BPS-H) only and Business Process Standardization – Combined Homogenization and Optimization (BPS-H+O) combined on BPP and Business Process Flexibility (BPF) (sub-section 4.3.3)
Top4.2 Constructs
This section aims at introducing the constructs used in the three research models.