چه چیز باورهای برنامه ریزی منابع سازمانی (ERP) را تحت تاثیر قرار میدهد - بررسی منطقی یا تقلیدی؟

Various models have been proposed to explain information technology (IT) adoption behavior. However, these models are based primarily on logical deliberation. In reality, it is impossible to obtain perfect information for a logical evaluation of new or emerging IT. In this situation, sometimes the “best alternative” is imitation. This study proposed an integrated model (based on diffusion of innovation and imitation models) that examines the effect of these two opposing forces on the beliefs of enterprise resource planning (ERP). This study also explored how these relationships were affected by the temporal effect of adoption, as well as the extent of implementation. Our findings indicate that imitative forces, along with logical evaluations, are shown to have a consistent direct effect and significant indirect effect on beliefs. Our study also indicates that ERP adoption time and extent have different effects on imitation and logical evaluation behaviors. Hence, imitative forces play a crucial role in the decision-making process, which opens up a new avenue for research into technology adoption.

In the last two decades, various well-tested approaches, including the technology adoption model [14], diffusion of innovation (DOI) theory [56], theory of reasoned action [17] and [30], theory of planned behavior (TPB) [4], and the Triandis model [64], have been applied to explain information technology (IT) adoption behavior. Many researchers (see, e.g., [10] and [42]) have attempted to expand and/or modify the original models to make them more theoretically complete. However, by nature of their assumption – that all adoption processes are systematically conducted and follow a rational path – these models still focus primarily on logical deliberation. In reality, we believe that there are two opposing forces influencing the beliefs of an individual or organization when IT adoption decisions are being made: logical evaluation and imitative forces. Belief is the psychological state in which an individual holds a proposition or premise to be true. A belief about an IT is the subjective psychological state regarding the potential of that IT [36]. Extant explanations of why users behave in particular ways toward ITs have tended to focus predominantly on beliefs as the driver [2] and [4], thus confirming the importance of belief in understanding IT behaviors. In the last two decades, belief has been an underlying theme among many popular models in the information system (IS) field even though these models diverge widely in their objectives and focuses. However, research into belief (see, e.g., [3] and [5]) has focused only on the explanation of the logical causation and formation of belief, leaving the non-logical factors unexplored. Moreover, belief from an individual perspective has been investigated whereas few studies have addressed IT adoption initiated at a committee level. Therefore, research is needed to explore belief formation from diverse perspectives, with evaluation of both logical and imitation forces in the same setting at the group or committee level.

Both DOI and imitation models are found to affect the belief of the ERP steering committee. As discussed earlier, the selection of either model could depend entirely on a researcher's research objective and preference. Our integrated model is also found to be useful in explaining variances in the belief of ERP steering committee. Most of the independent and integrative paths proposed in the model were found to be significant in influencing, either directly or indirectly, the belief of steering committee for ERP adoption. As depicted in Table 5, almost all proposed relations are supported empirically. Based on these findings, a number of implications for both researchers and practitioners can be drawn from the results of the study. First, our findings show that imitation plays a significant role in affecting the beliefs of ERP steering committees. When organizations imitate successful practices based on the frequency of their adoption by high-status, successful organizations, differentiation among organizations may weaken and eventually they will become more homogeneous [24] and [43]. Homogenization means that organizations have chosen standardized best practices, which can be easily copied and reproduced by competitors, over uniqueness. The use of an ERP system also forces its adopters to modify their business processes to the best practices functionally delivered in the software, which also makes organizations more homogeneous [9]. Research is thus needed to investigate whether imitation and ERP adoption cause organizations to conform and become increasingly homogeneous over time. The loss of uniqueness could possibly contribute to the weakening of an organization's core competencies, which can be utilized to create value for the organization and are also difficult for its competitors to copy. Hence, it would also be interesting to explore the correlation between homogenization and core competencies in the context of ERP or enterprise systems.