User Acceptance of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Systems in Higher Education Institutions

Abstract

It has become common practice for higher education institutions (HEIs) to replace existing computer systems, called legacy administrative information systems, with new ones to cope with the continuously changing demands in the context of education. At the top of these systems is enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems that integrate HEIs' business processes, functions, and data to improve their overall productivity and effectiveness. However, many studies on ERP adoption have shown that organizations frequently face several barriers, and the failure rate is high. In addition, various research projects have concluded that, quite often, HEIs do not obtain the expected advantages from the adoption of the ERP system. This research aims to explore the factors that affect the behavioral adoption and acceptance of an ERP system in the context of HEIs. Based on works from literature and authors' observations of the PeopleSoft system (ERP system) implementation at Yanbu University College (YUC) in Yanbu City, Saudi Arabia (SA), a conceptual model of users' acceptance of ERP systems has been proposed. The framework is based on the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) model and is extended with additional constructs. The present study offers a theoretical contribution by extending the UTAUT model to provide a richer understanding of users' adoption behavior of ERP systems in the HEI context. In addition, according to the authors' knowledge, this is the first paper that to address ERP users' adoption perspective in HEIs in SA.