Robotic Process Automation: A Literature-Based Research Agenda

Robotic Process Automation ( RPA) is a relatively new approach to automate business processes in organizations. Practitioners have adopted it extensively, notably within the accounting discipline; however, the scientific research seems to be lagging. As a result of this, there is no clear definition or uniform understanding of the advantages and disadvantages of RPA. To close this gap, we conducted a structured and systematic literature review of published scholarly articles on RPA. We set out to identify the definition of RPA, consider its feasibility regarding implementation, outline the advantages and disadvantages, and evaluate the risks and best practices of RPA. In this paper, we show that the literature has particularly failed to discuss the quantifiable benefits of RPA. The best practices identified are especially relevant for practitioners. Based on our findings, we propose an agenda for future research on RPA.