Wolfgang Palka

Mobile word-of-mouth – A grounded theory of mobile viral marketing

Mobile devices as personal communication tools are used as platforms for viral marketing within existing social networks. Although there is some evidence on the usefulness of mobile viral marketing from the marketers’ perspective, little is known about the motivations, attitudes, and behaviors of consumers engaged in this marketing instrument. The purpose of this research is to better understand the motivations behind a consumers decision to engage in mobile viral marketing strategies. The outcome is a grounded theory of mobile viral marketing with respect to the consumer and his social network, decomposing the mobile viral effect and identifying the determinants of reception, usage, and forwarding of mobile viral content. This result helps researchers and marketers to better understand the critical components of mobile viral marketing strategies and prepares the ground for further research in this emerging field.

Which capabilities matter for successful business process change

Purpose – Business process change (BPC) initiatives are complex endeavors, which require many different sets of capabilities from the organization (e.g. IT, change management, project management capabilities). This study aims to examine which capabilities matter for successful BPC. Design/methodology/approach – The paper posits that a structured analysis of case studies will help in identifying the capabilities relevant for BPC. Against this background, the paper adopted a case survey methodology, which combines the richness of case studies with the benefit of analyzing large quantities of data. The paper identified and analyzed 130 case studies reporting the past BPC project experiences. Findings – The results show that project management, change management and IT capabilities have a positive impact on BPC project performance. IT capabilities also have a positive impact on the final process performance. Thus, IT capabilities matter for both BPC project and process performance. Research limitations/implic...

A Review of Success Factors and Challenges of Public Sector BPR Implementations

Pressures to cut budgets and increase efficiency while maintaining performance prompted public managers to turn to the private sector for solutions. As a means of rightsizing government, cutting red tape, and reducing bureaucracy, the idea of BPR found its way into the realm of public organizations. The differing characteristics of private and public organizations introduce various challenges when transferring BPR methodologies between the sectors. With this research paper we consolidate the ample literature on BPR success from the private and public sector. We identify the relevant success factors and show that a surprising similarity exists between private and public BPR related success factors. In addition, we determine the specific characteristics and requirements of the public sector highlighting gaps in current literature. Finally, we structure the research gap in five propositions and provide directions for further research.

An Integrative Model of IT-Enabled Business Process Change: Causal Structures in Theory, Research and Practice

Although various researchers have addressed the topic of BPC success, BPC still suffers from a lack of knowledge on adequate theories and methods. This lack of knowledge is also evident in prominent BPC models. Research outcomes produced to some extant conflicting results and few reliable generalizations. The development of a theory that is falsifiable, generalizable, criticizable and useful is indispensable for future BPC research. The purpose of this research is to provide an understanding for successful BPC that is grounded in relevant theories, prior work on BPC and case-based evidence. The outcome is an integrative model for IT-enabled BPC, which proposes causal structures between different impact factors. The proposed model presents a first step toward a theory for BPC success and prepares the ground for further research in this field.