A Theoretical Perspective on Meaningfulness of Work and the Success of Business Process Standardization Initiatives

Business Process Standardization (BPS) leads to organizational changes, which are often faced with employee resistance. To make BPS initiatives successful, the ‘human resource’ has to be taken into consideration and with it, the job process fulfilled by them, their needs, and their work environment. The objective of this research is to analyze the role of employees affected by BPS initiatives and their perceptions of their work they are doing as part of the processes to be standardized. Based on job characteristics theory and the work-role fit concept, we develop a research model theorizing the role of these concepts for the acceptance of BPS initiatives. As main theoretical contribution, this research explains how employees’ job-related attitudes toward their own work and the collaborations with others determine their (non-)openness towards BPS initiatives, while it will also guide managers in incorporating the ‘right’ people into a BPS project.