Abstract
Enterprise repositories comprise numerous business process models either created by in-house domain experts or external business analysts. To enable a widespread use of these process models, high model quality (e.g., soundness) as well as a sufficient level of granularity are crucial. Moreover, they shall reflect the actual business processes properly. Existing modeling guidelines target at creating correct and sound process models, whereas there is only little work dealing with cognitive issues influencing model creation by process designers. This paper addresses this gap and presents a controlled experiment investigating the construal level theory in the context of process modeling. In particular, we investigate the influence the social distance of a process designer to the modeled domain has on the creation of process models. For this purpose, we adopt and apply a gamification approach, which enables us to show significant differences between low and high social distance with respect to the quality, granularity, and structure of the created process models. The results obtained give insights into how enterprises shall compose teams for creating and evolving process models.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsNotes
- 1.
The full data set can be found in http://bit.ly/1VB2aS3.
- 2.
According to [39], \(\alpha>\) 0.6 acceptable reliability; 0.7 < \({\alpha }\) <0.9 good reliability.
References
Weber, B., Reichert, M., Mendling, J., Reijers, H.A.: Refactoring large process model repositories. Comput. Ind. 62(5), 467–486 (2011)
Mendling, J.: Metrics for Process Models: Empirical Foundations of Verifiation, Error Prediction, and Guidelines for Correctness. Springer, Heidelberg (2008)
Reijers, H.A., Mendling, J.: A study into the factors that influence the understandability of business process models. In: Systems, Man and Cybernetics, Part A: Systems and Humans. pp. 1–14 (2011)
Moody, D.L.: Theoretical and practical issues in evaluating the quality of conceptual models: current state and future directions. Data Knowl. Eng. 55(3), 243–276 (2005)
Mendling, J., Reijers, H.A., Cardoso, J.: What makes process models understandable? In: Alonso, G., Dadam, P., Rosemann, M. (eds.) BPM 2007. LNCS, vol. 4714, pp. 48–63. Springer, Heidelberg (2007)
Mendling, J., Strembeck, M.: Influence factors of understanding business process models. In: Abramowicz, W., Fensel, D. (eds.) BIS 2008. LNBIP, vol. 7, pp. 142–153. Springer, Heidelberg (2008)
Becker, J., Rosemann, M., von Uthmann, C.: Guidelines of business process modeling. In: Aalst, W.M.P., Desel, J., Oberweis, A. (eds.) Business Process Management. LNCS, vol. 1806, pp. 30–49. Springer, Heidelberg (2000)
Mendling, J., Reijers, H.A., van der Aalst, W.M.: Seven process modeling guidelines (7PMG). Inf. Softw. Technol. 52(2), 127–136 (2010)
BPM Research Cluster: Cheetah Experimental Platform (2016). http://bpm.q-e.at/?page_id=56
Figl, K., Weber, B.: Individual creativity in designing business processes. In: Bajec, M., Eder, J. (eds.) CAiSE Workshops 2012. LNBIP, vol. 112, pp. 294–306. Springer, Heidelberg (2012)
Figl, K., Laue, R.: Cognitive complexity in business process modeling. In: Mouratidis, H., Rolland, C. (eds.) CAiSE 2011. LNCS, vol. 6741, pp. 452–466. Springer, Heidelberg (2011)
Trope, Y., Liberman, N., Wakslak, C.: Construal levels and psychological distance: effects on representation, prediction, evaluation, and behavior. J. Consum. Psychol. 17, 83–95 (2007)
Todorov, A., Goren, A., Trope, Y.: Probability as a psychological distance: construal and preferences. J. Exp. Soc. Psychol. 43, 473–482 (2007)
Trope, Y., Liberman, N.: Construal-level theory of psychological distance. Psychol. Rev. 117, 440–463 (2010)
Day, S., Bartels, D.: Representation over time: the effects of temporal distance on similarity. Cognition 106, 1504–1513 (2008)
Liberman, N., Sagristano, M.D., Trope, Y.: The effect of temporal distance on level of mental construal. J. Exp. Soc. Psychol. 38, 523–534 (2002)
Fujita, K., Henderson, M.D., Eng, J., Trope, Y., Liberman, N.: Spatial distance and mental construal of social events. Psychol. Sci. 17, 278–282 (2006)
Pronin, E., Olivola, C.Y., Kennedy, K.A.: Doing unto future selves as you would do unto others: psychological distance and decision making. Pers. Soc. Psychol. Bull. 34, 224–236 (2008)
Kolb, J., Zimoch, M., Weber, B., Reichert, M.: How social distance of process designers affects the process of process modeling: insights from a controlled experiment. In: Proceedings of the SAC 2014. pp. 1364–1370 (2014)
Deterding, S., Dixon, D., Khaled, R., Nacke, L.: From game design elements to gamefulness: defining “gamification". In: MindTrek 2015. pp. 9–15 (2011)
Zichermann, G., Cunningham, C.: Gamification by Design: Implementing Game Mechanics in Web and Mobile Apps. O’Reilly, Sebastopol (2011)
Bartle, R.A.: Designing Virtual Worlds. New Riders, Berkeley (2004)
Davis, A., Khazanchi, D., Murphy, J., Zigurs, I., Owens, D.: Avatars, people, and virtual worlds: foundations for research in metaverses. J. Assoc. Inf. Syst. 10, 90–117 (2009)
Moody, D.L.: The “physics” of notations: toward a scientific basis for constructing visual notations in software engineering. Softw. Eng. 35(6), 756–779 (2008)
Krogstie, J.: Model-Based Development and Evolution of Information Systems. Springer, London (2012)
Holschke, O., Rake, J., Levina, O.: Granularity as a cognitive factor in the effectiveness of business process model reuse. In: Dayal, U., Eder, J., Koehler, J., Reijers, H.A. (eds.) BPM 2009. LNCS, vol. 5701, pp. 245–260. Springer, Heidelberg (2009)
Polyvyanyy, A., Smirnov, S., Weske, M.: On application of structural decomposition for process model abstraction. In: Proceedings of the BPSC 2009. pp. 110–122 (2009)
Moody, D.L.: Cognitive load effects on end user understanding of conceptual models: an experimental analysis. In: Benczúr, A.A., Demetrovics, J., Gottlob, G. (eds.) ADBIS 2004. LNCS, vol. 3255, pp. 129–143. Springer, Heidelberg (2004)
Wolf, C., Harmon, P.: The state of business process management 2012. In: BPTrends Report (2012)
Petre, M.: Why looking isn’t always seeing: readership skills and graphical programming. Commun. ACM 38, 33–44 (1995)
Lindland, O.I., Sindre, G., Solvberg, A.: Understanding quality in conceptual modeling. IEEE Softw. 11(2), 42–49 (1994)
Krogstie, J., Sindre, G., Jørgensen, H.: Process models representing knowledge for action: a revised quality framework. J. Inf. Syst. 15, 91–102 (2006)
Recker, J., Safrudin, N., Rosemann, M.: How novices model business processes. In: Hull, R., Mendling, J., Tai, S. (eds.) BPM 2010. LNCS, vol. 6336, pp. 29–44. Springer, Heidelberg (2010)
Rittgen, P.: Quality and Perceived Usefulness of Process Models. In: Proceedings of the 24th Symposium on Applied Computing (SAC 2010). pp. 65–72 (2010)
Mendling, J., Neumann, G.: Error Metrics for Business Process Models. In: Proceedings of the CAISE 2007. pp. 53–56 (2007)
Wohlin, C., Runeson, P., Höst, M., Ohlsson, M.C., Regnell, B., Wesslen, A.: Experimentation in Software Engineering - An Introduction. Kluwer, Norwell (2000)
Höst, M., Regnell, B., Wohlin, C.: Using students as subjects a comparative study of students and professionals in lead-time impact assessment. Empirical Softw. Eng. 5, 201–214 (2000)
Svahnberg, M., Aurum, A., Wohlin, C.: Using students as subjects - an empirical evaluation. In: ESEM 2008, ACM. pp. 288–290 (2008)
Kline, P.: Handbook of Psychological Testing, vol. 2. Routledge, New York (1999)
Sirkin, M.: Statistics for the Social Sciences, vol. 3. Sage, Thousand Oaks (2005)
Tversky, A., Kahnemann, D.: Availability: a heuristic for judging frequency and probability. Cogn. Psychol. 5, 207–232 (1973)
Kyung, E.J., Menon, G., Trope, Y.: Construal level and temporal judgments of the past: the moderating role of knowledge. Psychon. Bull. Rev. 21, 734–739 (2014)
Mendling, J., Verbeek, H.M.W., van Dongen, B.F., van der Aalst, W.M.P., Neumann, G.: Detection and prediction of errors in EPCs of the SAP reference model. Data Knowl. Eng. 64(1), 312–329 (2008)
Aguilar, E.R., Sanchez, L., Carballeira, F.G., Ruiz, F., Piattini, M., Caivano, D., Visaggio, G.: Prediction models for BPMN usability and maintainability. In: Proceedings of the CEC 2009. pp. 383–390 (2009)
Pinggera, J., Soffer, P., Fahland, D., Weidlich, M., Zugal, S., Weber, B., Reijers, H., Mendling, J.: Styles in business process modeling: an exploration and a model. Soft Syst. Model. 14, 1055–1080 (2013)
Aparicio, A.F., Vela, F.L.G., Sánchez, J.L.G., Montes, J.L.I.: Analysis and application of gamification. In: New Trends in Interaction, Virtual Reality and Modeling, Human-Computer Interaction Series. pp. 113–126 (2013)
Santorum, M., Front, A., Rieu, D.: ISEAsy: a social business process management platform. In: Lohmann, N., Song, M., Wohed, P. (eds.) BPM 2013 Workshops. LNBIP, vol. 171, pp. 125–137. Springer, Switzerland (2014)
Brito, T.P., Paes, J., Moura, A.B.: Game-based learning in IT service transition. In: Proceedings of the CSEDU 2014. pp. 110–116 (2014)
Brown, R.A.: Conceptual modelling in 3D virtual worlds for process communication. In: Proceedings of the APCCM 2010. pp. 25–32 (2010)
West, S., Brown, R.A., Recker, J.C.: Collaborative Business Process Modeling Using 3D Virtual Environments. In: Proceedings of the APCCM. pp. 51–60 (2010)
Kathleen, N., Brown, R.A., Kriglstein, S.: Storyboard augmentation of process model grammars for stakeholder communication. In: Proceedings of the IVAPP 2014. pp. 114–121 (2014)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this paper
Cite this paper
Zimoch, M., Kolb, J., Reichert, M. (2016). Considering Social Distance as an Influence Factor in the Process of Process Modeling. In: Schmidt, R., Guédria, W., Bider, I., Guerreiro, S. (eds) Enterprise, Business-Process and Information Systems Modeling. BPMDS EMMSAD 2016 2016. Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing, vol 248. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-39429-9_7
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-39429-9_7
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-39428-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-39429-9
eBook Packages: Business and ManagementBusiness and Management (R0)