Reasons behind ERP package adoption: a diffusion of innovations perspective

Light, BA; Papazafeiropoulou, A

Abstract

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) packages have been widely adopted and it is becoming clear that
this is driven by multiple rationales that may be simultaneously at odds and complimentary. In this
paper, we aim to develop a greater understanding of these rationales by taking ERP packages to be
innovations and analysing their adoption with reference to the theory of diffusion of innovations. In
particular, we consider the attributes of ERP packages that may affect their adoption such as relative
advantage, compatibility, complexiblity, trialability and observability. We argue that users’
perceptions of these attributes are not always accurate and these ’misconceptions’ can further explain
reasons for ERP adoption or rejection. Although our analysis aims to provide rich insights into the
adoption of ERP packages, the results of the study are arguably of further interest to the more general
study of packaged software and the more established literature on custom development.

Citation

Light, B., & Papazafeiropoulou, A. (2004, June). Reasons behind ERP package adoption: a diffusion of innovations perspective. Presented at 12th European Conference on Information Systems, Turku, Finland

• Presentation Conference Type: Other
• Conference Name: 12th European Conference on Information Systems
• Conference Location: Turku, Finland
• Start Date: Jun 14, 2004
• End Date: Jun 16, 2004
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2004
• Deposit Date: Sep 1, 2011
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 5, 2016
• Keywords: ERP, packaged software, adoption, diffusion, innovation
• Publisher URL: http://www.informatik.uni-trier.de/~ley/db/conf/ecis/ecis2004.html
• Additional Information: Event Type : Conference