A Stakeholder Engagement Model for Process Improvement Initiatives

Despite cries from practice and academia, stakeholder engagement in Business Process Ma(BPM) is an under-explored area of research. Developing a comprehensive understanding of what factors influence stakeholder engagement is the first step towards addressing this. While diverse factors are briefly mentioned in prior literature, there has not been any holistic synthesis nor empirical investigation to this. This study presents the first empirically supported framework of stakeholder engagement factors for process improvement projects. The framework was built with a synthesis of literature applying Kassin's [1] social psychology framework as a theoretical lens, and empirical insights from a rich case study conducted at an Australian Financial service provider. The framework presents five levels namely; 'micro', 'meso', 'exo', 'macro', and 'chrono' which represents different 'systems' that host a range of factors that influence stakeholder engagement in process improvement projects. It provides an invaluable point of reference for BPM practitioners when designing stakeholder engagement and intervention programs, especially to develop sustainable strategies for change that enables successful outcomes. It also is a solid foundation and springboard for further academic research.