Do Universities Get the Hang of Working Efficiently? - A Survey of the Influencing Factors on the Adoption of Electronic Document and Workflow Management in German-speaking Countries

Efficiency enhancement and process improvement are very relevant topics in public institutions like (state) universities. In this context, electronic document and workflow management (EDWM) is very important, because many administrative and paper-based processes which include various documents exist in universities and consequently, potentials for process improvements are present. The first objective of this article is to investigate the dissemination of information systems (IS) that support the electronic management of documents and processes in order to get an overview about the current situation. Since we found that only a minor proportion of the universities use such IS, our second objective was to identify starting points for increasing the adoption of these IS. This article contributes to knowledge base in two respects: First, the article draws researchers’ attentions to EDWM in context of universities and illustrates needs for research. Second, important influencing factors on the adoption of EDWM in universities are presented.