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PurposeCompanies that strive to provide customers with value in their processes benefit from artefacts that allow them to better understand customer processes (CPs) and to influence CPs in ways that are valuable for customers. Such CP-centric artefacts (CPCAs) carry various labels across research fields, which inhibit their application or utilization for developing further artefacts. This study provides a structured overview of existing CPCAs and investigates which research foundations promote their development.Design/methodology/approachTwenty-five CP-related keyword combinations are applied in several iterations using multiple (meta) search engines to identify papers on CPCAs across different research streams. Introduced research frameworks organize the identified artefacts and indicate research gaps and reasons why some approaches are more successful in developing CPCAs than others.FindingsExisting CPCAs cover different aspects of CPs and utilize contextual factors of CPs to varying degrees to analyse or influence CPs. Research gaps are identified that indicate opportunities to develop further CPCAs. Taking instantiated methods in combination with CP-related descriptive knowledge as a foundation yields the highest potential for generating beneficial CPCAs.Originality/valueThis paper contributes to CP management literature by offering a foundation for the generation of CPCAs suitable for analysing and influencing CPs of end-consumers. This supports the establishment of a CP management aiming at optimizing both, interlinked business processes and CPs.

PurposeInsights about customers' processes of value creation are highly beneficial for companies striving to provide customers with added value in their processes. Customer processes (CPs) of a complex nature, like buying real estate, are highly heterogenous and comprise numerous activities. Existing data-gathering methods either overlook the variability of these processes or do not record their contents thoroughly. Drawing conclusions from analyzing such poor-quality data can result in the design of supposedly customer-centric offerings that fail to provide customers with value in their processes. This paper aims to introduce a method for gathering complex CP data of superior quality: the interactive questionnaire.Design/methodology/approachThe design of the novel method is guided by requirements derived from the literature. In a field study, the method's performance is compared with that of existing methods.FindingsThe interactive questionnaire produces data quality gains by combining data gathering in large sample sizes with features enabling survey participants to interact with each other. A field study confirms that it outperforms all hitherto existing methods in terms of the quality of the obtained data.Originality/valueThis study contributes to CP management literature by introducing a method capable of gathering complex CPs in sample sizes sufficiently large to accurately reflect their variability and in broad scope including activities beyond the company's perception. Having such CP data available is the precondition for a joint optimization of CPs and aligned business processes.