Business Process Ambidexterity and its impact on Business-IT alignment. A Systematic Literature Review

In the age of digital disruption, organizations face the growing need to both optimize existing processes, and to radically innovate and disrupt them. Business Process Management (BPM) has proven great value for process control and process optimization, however not for process disruption. Our Systematic Literature Review of Business Process Ambidexterity provides an overview of this nascent domain. In our research, we have divided all articles into two main strands of research, focusing on: (1) organizational capabilities enabling Business Process Ambidexterity, and (2) the actual dynamic balance between exploration and exploitation in BPM, which is enabled by the modelling and optimization stages in the business process lifecycle. As there is no widely accepted definition of Business Process Ambidexterity, we propose one for future use, based on the concept of paradoxical thinking. Business Process Ambidexterity may both enable, and be facilitated by digitalization; however, there is limited evidence that Business Process Ambidexterity enables Business-IT alignment. The main research gap is the lack of conceptual and practical guidelines on Business Process Ambidexterity implementation. Hence, this article encourages future research and provides preliminary guidance for practitioners.