The impact of implementation process on the perception of enterprise resource planning success

Purpose – The study investigates the impact of the implementation process on the ERP’s success in the post-adoption stage, measured as system’s acceptance, reliability and utility perceived by users, inside the organizations. Design/methodology/approach – We adopted a multiple case study research design. The data collected, provided by IT managers and 120 key-users from four companies, has been used to investigate the impact of the ERP implementation phases on selected constructs of the Task- Technology Fit (TTF) and Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). The empirical evidences highlight a direct relation between the effectiveness of the implementation phases and the ERP's success. Findings – The research results emphasize the importance of the quality of the software, but especially the importance of the implementation phases' management, which require technical and managerial ability of the team made up of people from the system integrator and the company's key users. Evidences suggest that the higher will be the organizational diffusion of an ERP implemented during a successful implementation project, the higher will be the perception of ERP success in the post-adoption stage. Moreover, the users’ perception of ERP quality will be maintained over time. Research limitations/implications – The research has some limits due to its exploratory nature and to the chosen research approach, so the results may lack generalizability; consequently future research will concern with enlargement of the sample that will allow a better generalization of the results. Practical implications – This exploratory study suggest that companies’ managers should be aware that a correct methodology of implementation, strongly influenced by the team, impacts on the technology consistency and, therefore, on the ERP system success. So an appropriate choice is to invest more in the creation and development of internal and external project team than in the ERP’s brand. Originality/value – This paper fulfils an identified need to clarify the explicit relationship between the quality of implementation phases and the subsequent ERP success in the post-adoption stage measured in terms of users’ perception of information system quality.