Business process improvement in services: case studies of financial institutions in Thailand

摘要

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to explore how financial institutions adopt business processimprovement (BPI) for improving service quality, to enhance customer satisfaction. To explain thisadoption, it was necessary to develop a theory to explain the linkages between BPI initiatives andcustomer satisfaction.Design/methodology/approach - Case study was used as the research strategy, following thetheory-building process suggested by Eisenhardt. In total, three phases of data collection wereemployed, with expert interviews for theory enhancement and validation.Findings - The authors identified three main stages of BPI adoption. A theory model was developedand refined using the empirical findings, to provide understanding of the outcomes of BPI initiatives.This model is compared with existing service quality models.Research limitations/implications - The research outcomes represent an extension of existingservice quality approaches, to consider the BPI adoption process as well as broader organisationalissues. However, data were collected only from Thai, financial institutions, which might impact thegeneralisation of the results.Practical implications - The proposed theory model is developed at an operational level, andspecifically aims to provide managers with adoption guidance and a practical foundation for furtherdevelopment of operational-level assessment, assisting a more systematic evaluation of the outcomesof specific BPI initiatives at the project level.Originality/value - The paper provides empirical evidence of BPI adoption in a financial servicescontext A theory model is presented based on service quality principles, to help explain BPI adoptionoutcomes at an operational (e.g. project) level, which provides a different perspective to that of existingservice quality models.