Exploring potentials of digital nudging for business processes

Abstract

PurposeBusiness process improvement is vital for organizations as business environments are becoming ever more volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous. Process improvement methods help organizations sustain competitiveness. Many existing methods, however, do not fit emerging business environments as they entail initiatives with long implementation times, high investments and limited involvement of process participants. What is needed are agile process improvement approaches. The purpose of this paper is to explore the potential of digital nudging – a concept offering tools that lead individuals to better decisions – to improve business processes.Design/methodology/approachUsing process deviance as theoretical lens, an online experiment with 473 participants is conducted. Within the experiment, business processes and digital nudges are implemented to examine whether digital nudging can mitigate the weaknesses of existing process improvement methods.FindingsDigital nudging can influence the decisions of process participants and entail positive process deviance that leads to process improvement opportunities. Further, the research gives a first hint on the effectiveness of different digital nudges and lays the foundation for future research.Research limitations/implicationsSince exploring a completely new field of research and conducting the experiment in a synthetic environment, the paper serves as a first step toward the combination of digital nudging, business process improvements and positive process deviance.Originality/valueThe major achievement reported in this paper is the exploration of a new field of research. Thus, digital nudging shapes up as a promising foundation for agile process improvement, a discovery calling for future research at the intersection of digital nudging and business process management.

Rethinking picking processes in e-grocery: a study in the multichannel context

“…Supermarkets must adapt to the changing environment found in the multichannel context. Some authors have stated that one of the keys to finding efficiency is collaboration among the participants in the process (Bammert et al, 2020). Thus, authors such as Abdolvand et al (2008) consider that rethinking and redesigning business processes is the way to obtain sustainable improvements.…”

“…Process improvement is crucial for organizations as business environments are increasingly volatile, complex and ambiguous. However, many existing methods do not suit emerging business environments as they generally require long implementation times, large investments and only limited collaboration from participants in the process (Bammert et al, 2020). In the current context, firms need agile improvement approaches that let them maintain or improve their competitiveness by means of internal proposals that can be carried out by their own employees.…”

“…However, even in settings where practices are totally different from those appearing in this work, the "inward looking" approach proposed here can still be fully extrapolated. Paying attention to points of discrepancy about how to do something means that the wisdom already existing within an organization can be used to improve its own efficiency (Bammert et al, 2020). In this way, online grocers that operate store-based fulfilment strategies can redesign their working method using criteria based on their own performance.…”

Innovation nudging—A novel approach to foster innovation engagement in an incumbent company

“…By introducing the nudging concept with its four enablers, the company has changed within 3 years the perception of and engagement with its innovation management fundamentally. Since the majority of incumbent, classic brick‐and‐mortar companies struggle with their (digital) transformation, following a similar path like our company might be fruitful to start a new movement and step into today's digital business world (Bammert et al, 2020).…”

Politics, Public Goods, and Corporate Nudging in the HTTP/2 Standardization Process

“…Developed in behavioral economics at the turn of the millennium, the concept of "nudging" is useful to explain and analyze current online governance and decision-making (Bammert et al, 2020;Foster & Frijters, 2017;Peacock, 2018;Sunstein, 2018). But nudging is not easy to isolate in social interactions because it is a gentle signal intended to guide fellow actors' minds, thoughts, and actions while preserving their agency (Sunstein, 2018).…”