A Systematic Literature Review on the Integration of Business Process Management and Information Entropy

Abstract

Apostolos Mouzakitis and Anastasios Liapakis

This systematic literature review introduces managerial info physics, a novel interdisciplinary metaparadigm that integrates Business Process Management (BPM), information entropy, econophysics, and informatics to address organizational complexity and uncertainty. Anchored in the PRISMA 2020 methodology, the review analyzes 191 peer-reviewed sources published between 2018 and 2024 across 21 academic databases. Findings indicate that entropy-based metrics—originally developed in thermodynamics and information theory—can quantify process variability and execution uncertainty, extending traditional key performance indicators (KPIs). The review highlights entropy’s practical utility in enhancing workload distribution, resource allocation, and dynamic system modeling, particularly in high-variability sectors such as healthcare, finance, and manufacturing. Moreover, it identifies foundational gaps in entropy’s integration within BPM, emphasizing conceptual ambiguities and methodological inconsistencies. By applying analogical induction, the study formalizes managerial info physics as a framework for entropy-informed BPM, bridging theory and application. While empirical validation remains limited, the framework offers a unified approach to managing unpredictability, supporting adaptive modeling and strategic decision-making in data-intensive environments. Future research directions are proposed for refining entropy-based tools and operationalizing this metaparadigm in real-time, smart system contexts.

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