An empirical investigation of switching intention to private cloud computing in large enterprises

Abstract

Cloud computing has recently become popular information technologies in enterprises. More and more enterprises tend to move from traditional enterprise information systems (EIS) to private EIS. However, few studies have addressed the switching issues, especially in large enterprises. The purpose of this study is to investigate switching intentions from traditional EIS to private cloud EIS for large enterprises. A research model draws from Technology-Organization-Environment framework. Data were collected from 251 top managers and owners of the enterprises in China and used to analyze six hypotheses. The results show that perceived benefits and data security of technological context, perceived costs of organizational context, vendor support and consultant support of environmental context significantly influence switching intentions; technological competence does not significantly influence switching intentions. The findings are useful to understand switching issues from traditional EIS to private cloud EIS for both researchers and practitioners.