The academic and professional BPM discipline is concentrated on process performance and conformance. However, changing consumer demand pat-terns, ESG requirements and concepts such as conscious capital have in-creased the pressure to create more than ‘transactional value’ from business processes. One such consequence is the requirement to provide trusted pro-cesses and the embedded request for benevolence. A benevolent process prioritizes customers’ demands over providers’ interests. Following a De-sign Science approach and informed by primary data collected from three large service organisations and related secondary data, this paper presents eight design guidelines, grouped in four pairs, for benevolent processes. These design guidelines conceptualise an entirely new set of process aims and have the potential to initiate BPM research and professional practice exceeding common transac-tional value propositions.

1. Benevolent Business Processes
- Design Guidelines Beyond Transactional Value
Michael Rosemann, Wasana Bandara, Nadine Ostern & Marleen Voss

2. Beyond Transactional Value
Benevolent Business Processes
Michael Rosemann, Wasana Bandara, Nadine Ostern & Marleen Voss
BPM Conference
12 September 2023

3. The Emergence of New Requirements
• The dominating economic narrative in BPM is still necessary,
but no longer sufficient.
• Conscious capitalism, shared value and purpose-led
processes demand consideration of additional stakeholders
and non-economic goals.
• However, BPM discipline has a limited understanding
for how to cater for such goals and to operationalise
processes accordingly (infancy of responsible BPM).
Benevolent Business Processes
Michael Rosemann, Wasana Bandara, Nadine Ostern & Marleen Voss
BPM Conference
12 September 2023

4. Dissatisfaction
Delight
Fulfillment
Transactional Excellence – The New Hygiene Factor?
Transactional Value
Benevolent Business Processes
Michael Rosemann, Wasana Bandara, Nadine Ostern & Marleen Voss
BPM Conference
12 September 2023

5. Benevolence
Benevolence has three characteristics:
1) It constitutes an immediate benefit for the recipient party
2) It is an investment for the giving party in the short term
3) It is (mostly) an optional behavior.
Focus here: Mutualistic, Macro, Formal, Public/Private
Benevolence is the ‘disposition to do good’, being kind.
It demonstrates that the well-being of the customer
is an authentic priority for the organisation. Example:
Proactive price matching
Benevolent Business Processes
Michael Rosemann, Wasana Bandara, Nadine Ostern & Marleen Voss
BPM Conference
12 September 2023

6. What design guidelines
inform benevolent
business processes?
Our Research Question
Benevolent Business Processes
Michael Rosemann, Wasana Bandara, Nadine Ostern & Marleen Voss
BPM Conference
12 September 2023

7. Structured
literature review
covering benevolent
processes/BPM
Literature
Review
Interviews
Interviews with
three senior
executives of large
B2C organisations
Focus
Group
Assessing the
applicability in two
cases within the
Brisbane Trust
Alliance
Identifying
complementary
cases based on
identified
guidelines
Secondary
Data
Research Methodology
Benevolent Business Processes
Michael Rosemann, Wasana Bandara, Nadine Ostern & Marleen Voss
BPM Conference
12 September 2023

8. The Three Cases
Road Assistance Retail Insurance
1.7m members
2,200 employees
Chief Purpose Officer
43mio customers
84,000 employees
Chief Customer and
Strategy Officer
300 stores
14,000 employees
General Manager
E-Commerce and Marketing
Benevolent Business Processes
Michael Rosemann, Wasana Bandara, Nadine Ostern & Marleen Voss
BPM Conference
12 September 2023

9. Brisbane Trust Alliance
Benevolent Business Processes
Michael Rosemann, Wasana Bandara, Nadine Ostern & Marleen Voss
BPM Conference
12 September 2023

10. Example:
As derived from data to exemplify the guideline
Pattern:
Simplified articulation of the process characteristics
Definition:
Precise clarification of the meaning of the guideline
Value:
Description of the value derived for the customer
Context:
Description of the applicable environment
Consideration:
Pre-requisites to be considered for this guideline
Process Automation
Eto which this guideline can be automated
Specification
of each design
guideline
Benevolent Business Processes
Michael Rosemann, Wasana Bandara, Nadine Ostern & Marleen Voss
BPM Conference
12 September 2023

11. The Problem:
Benevolence is a recognized
element of trust. However,
operatiomnaling and scaling
benevolence is a key issue.
Patterns of Benevolence
Be Fair
Adequacy
Awareness
Do Right
Prevention
Compensation
Say Yes
Acceptance
Tolerance
Be Humane
Attentiveness
Empathy
Benevolent Business Processes
Michael Rosemann, Wasana Bandara, Nadine Ostern & Marleen Voss
BPM Conference
12 September 2023

12. Benevolence: Be Fair
How can benevolence
be operationalised and scaled?
Be Fair
Adequacy
Awareness
Adequacy
Provide the right product
Awareness
Make customer aware of services included
Benevolent Business Processes
Michael Rosemann, Wasana Bandara, Nadine Ostern & Marleen Voss
BPM Conference
12 September 2023

13. Example:
Proactive allocation of funds to a higher interest
product.
Pattern:
Allocate to fund within pre-agreed investment
parameters if higher interest is possible.
Definition:
Continuous scanning for better products.
Value:
Customer gains immediate financial benefit.
Context:
Customers often commit to conventional banking
products long-term, seldom exploring better options.
Consideration:
Customer consensus, customer risk appetite,
defined rejection timeframe, event- or time-driven.
Process Automation
Product comparison triggers task (re-allocation).
Adequacy:
Proactive fund
reallocation
Benevolent Business Processes
Michael Rosemann, Wasana Bandara, Nadine Ostern & Marleen Voss
BPM Conference
12 September 2023

14. Benevolence: Do Right
How can benevolence
be operationalised and scaled?
Do Right
Prevention
Compensation
Prevention
Avoid harm and regret
Compensation
Ensure service recovery
Benevolent Business Processes
Michael Rosemann, Wasana Bandara, Nadine Ostern & Marleen Voss
BPM Conference
12 September 2023

15. Future Research
• Study the antecedents of and the interrelationships between
these guidelines
• Explore alternative contextual settings for these guidelines
• Research the impact of these guidelines on organizational
and customer values
• Study the boundaries of artifical benevolence
Benevolent Business Processes
Michael Rosemann, Wasana Bandara, Nadine Ostern & Marleen Voss
BPM Conference
12 September 2023

16. Michael Rosemann
Director, Centre for Future Enterprise
m.rosemann@qut.edu.au
Wasana Bandara
Associate Professor, Information Systems
w.bandara@qut.edu.au
Nadine Ostern
Cisco Chair in Trusted Retail
n.ostern@qut.edu.au
Marleen Voss
Post-doctoral Research Fellow
Marleen.voss@qut.edu.au
Benevolent Business Processes
Michael Rosemann, Wasana Bandara, Nadine Ostern & Marleen Voss
BPM Conference
12 September 2023