In dynamic business environments, many organizations need to acquire a process innovation capability (PIC) that caters to less-structured business processes (LSBP) in order to remain relevant in the market. However, such organizations are still in need of appropriate frameworks that enable them to identify and evaluate their PIC in LSBP. To fill this gap, we have followed the Delphi method with three rounds of semi-structured interviews, including twelve practitioners and fifteen scholars across five continents. The findings reveal five major differences and barriers for PIC in LSBP, as compared to innovating structured business processes. In addition, we refine and empirically validate an innovation capability framework covering six main capabilities and 18 sub-areas, configured into three major pillars: (1) a people-process-technology pillar, (2) an organizational pillar, and (3) an ecosystem pillar. Besides being one of the first studies to offer a conceptual framework for PIC in LSBP, we provide practical brainstorming with reflective questions per capability, for practitioners to reflect on their organization’s current PIC in LSBP.

在动态的业务环境中，许多组织需要获得适合结构化程度较低的业务流程 (LSBP) 的流程创新能力 (PIC)，以保持在市场中的地位。然而，此类组织仍然需要适当的框架，使他们能够识别和评估 LSBP 中的 PIC。为了填补这一空白，我们遵循德尔菲法进行了三轮半结构化访谈，其中包括来自五大洲的十二名从业者和十五名学者。研究结果揭示了与创新结构化业务流程相比，LSBP 中的 PIC 存在五个主要差异和障碍。此外，我们完善并实证验证了涵盖六大主要能力和 18 个子领域的创新能力框架，分为三大支柱：(1) 人员-流程-技术支柱，(2) 组织支柱，(3)生态系统的支柱。除了作为首批为 LSBP 中的 PIC 提供概念框架的研究之一外，我们还提供了针对每种能力的反思性问题的实用头脑风暴，以便从业者反思其组织当前的 LSBP PIC。