ERP systems success: an empirical analysis of how two organizational stakeholder groups prioritize and evaluate relevant measures

Abstract

Organizations worldwide are adopting enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. A number of studies discuss the implementation and success of such systems, but our study of the literature indicates that discussions about ERP systems success from the perspectives of key organizational stakeholders are not easy to come across. This study is designed to fill this gap in research. Using surveys in Finland and Estonia, we obtained empirical data from 66 respondents in 44 diverse, private, industrial organizations. Our objective was to determine whether differences exist between two organizational stakeholder groups, i.e. business managers and IT professionals, concerning how each group believe ERP success measures and dimensions are prioritized and evaluated in their respective organizations. Prior literature suggests that differences exist between the two groups with regard to how each perceives organizational information technology (IT) issues. Our study indicates that no significant statistical differences exist between the two groups with the exception of one dimension of ERP success, i.e. vendor/consultant quality. The implications of our findings for both practice and research are discussed.