تحقیقات تجربی اثرات تسهیل کننده داخلی / خارجی بر موفقیت پروژه ERP : مدل معادلات ساختاری

In recent years many companies have improved their business performance and competitive position by implementation of enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. This study goes beyond the boundaries of an individual organization to develop an integrated framework for successful implementation of ERP systems. We also discuss the internal/external facilitators which make this possible. Meanwhile, the authors utilize the SERVQUAL instrument, project management and information systems success theory in our empirically investigation of the roles and interdependent relationships of system vendors, consultants, project management and system performance, based on existing measures suitable for this study. The results reveal a significant causal relationship between system providers, implementation consultants and project management, and project to system performance, except directly from SERVQUAL to system performance. It is believed that an understanding of the relationships between the relevant factors for ERP success is necessary to satisfy the adopter's requirement, both practically and theoretically.

Over the past decade, enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems have been implemented in many organizations worldwide [28]. However, there are various obstacles that must be overcome in the process of the successful implementation of an ERP system by an organization [32], [59] and [67]. In fact, ERP implementation is a difficult and risky task. Executing an ERP project not only tends to be large and complex but also involves a broad range of organizational transformation processes during the whole implementation process. There are many internal and external entities involved in this type of high-risk project besides the executive steering committee for project management (PM) which require expertise that is not typically found within the organization, such as system vendors and implementation consultants [25]. The system vendors and implementation consultants represent external sources of expertise and the executive steering committee of project management (PM) stand for an internal transformation mechanism facilitating fundamental changes in the organizational structure. The organization goes through tremendous changes through PM efforts during ERP project implementation, creating environments where systems could be modified or embedded and systems of services are delivered in the process of the transformation. System vendors, implementation consultants and the executive steering committee of PM are the three key participants to achieve success in driving the system performance of ERP. It should be noted well that if an ERP system cannot be embedded, system services cannot be delivered and system performance not carried out by the efforts of the system vendor, implementation consultant and PM. Given this, it is believed that a more comprehensive and integrated ERP success model should incorporate such factors as the Vendor/Consultant quality and PM dimensions. More importantly, study of ERP systems success is limited if these three important dimensions are not considered. A review of the previous literature on ERP success reveals that researchers have either used narrowly defined measures [73] or examined ERP success at individual stages [40]. However, few go beyond the boundaries of the organization to discuss the internal/external contextual factors that lead to success, looking at the whole process of what drives successful ERP implementation from a wider perspective. Although Gable and colleagues [22] and [52] have stepped up to this challenge on ERP assessment of systems success issues and discussed the impact of external contextual factors, overall, there is a shortage in the literature of an integrated model dealing with the internal/external contextual factors as antecedents of ERP success. It goes without saying that no one has examined the relationships between dimensions leading to ERP systems and the PM dimension as a moderator (intermediary) of ERP system performance in the later stages. This study aims, therefore, to fill this gap by examining the effects of the afore-mentioned two external and one internal contextual factors, i.e., system vendor, implementation consultant and PM on ERP success assessment, simultaneously. The rest of this paper is organized into six sections. Section 1 briefly describes the research problem and the goals of this study. In Section 2, we discuss the influence on ERP system quality from two perspectives, internal and external facilitators, to better understand the participants involved in the process of ERP implementation. In Section 3, we consolidate these streams of research and propose a modified research framework and six propositions. In Section 4, methodology (sample, data arrangement and model testing) and the discussion of management implications are introduced. Limitations and suggestions for future research are discussed in Section 5. Finally, we present our conclusions in Section 6.

This paper went beyond the boundaries of the organization to discuss the internal/external contextual factors that lead to ERP system success. It provided a wider perspective to look at the whole process driving successful ERP implementation. Meanwhile, the results indicate signi fi cant causal relationship of the SERVQUAL of system providers and implementation consultants to the project management and then from the project to the system performance except from SERVQUAL to the system performance directly. We survey the current ERP literature and identify the present state of ERP theory. We formulate propositions for three strategic factors related to ERP system performance. The propositions are in turn delineated and evaluated in terms of speci fi c subfactors associated with each factor. On the generalizability of the study, this study has been successfully used as a comprehensive model that integrates literature streams from different fi elds such as SERVQUAL and project management as antecedents of on ERP success. The results provided interesting insights into ERP implementation with broad organiza- tional impact to deal with the study of ERP system success. In addition, based on the integrated model, we draw upon the SERVQUAL instrument, project management and information systems success theory to empirically investigate the roles of different factors that could affect ERP success. The results also indicate that SERVQUAL is thus the cause, not the consequence, of progress in system performance research and that project management forms a moder- ating (intermediary) mechanism for the delivery and transformation of SERVQUAL during the process of ERP implementation. Internal/ external contextual factors for ERP implementation, therefore, will enable researchers to facilitate communication and mutual under- standing as well as increase probability of successful ERP implemen- tation through such integrated model. Last but not least, this study further illustrates that higher satis- factions of SERVQUAL of system providers and implementation consultants can bene fi t ERP implementation, leading to higher perceived SERVQUAL provided by external facilitators delivered, and that the value of higher ERP project success also increases as ful fi lling ERPproject.The resultsillustratedthe needof MISpractitioners topay greater attention to the role of PM as well as the system and tech- nology itself. An understanding of the relationships to the factors of ERP success that satisfy the adopter's requirements is both practically important and theoretically signi fi cant.