Repeated use of process models: The impact of artifact, technological, and individual factors

Publication date: August 2016
Source:Decision Support Systems, Volume 88
Author(s): Alexander Nolte, Eike Bernhard, Jan Recker, Fabian Pittke, Jan Mendling
Business process modeling has received a lot of attention from practitioners and researchers alike. Organizations make significant investments into process modeling in terms of training, tools, and resources. Yet, having invested into creating large process model collections, process models often fall into disuse, provoking the impression that the initial investment has been lost. While previous work has aimed at exploring model re-use as a design principle, our work examines repeated use of a model as a behavior and thus aims at identifying factors that facilitate or hinder the repeated use of process models by individual users. We develop a conceptual model of factors that can influence an individual's intention to repeatedly use process models. We evaluate this model through a cross-sectional survey of process model users from a large European financial institution. Our results indicate the importance of quality and ease of understanding of process models to repeated use, alongside individual factors, such as motivation and individual expertise. We identify means that help organizations to promote the repeated use of process models, which can assist them to increase the benefits of process modeling.