An Empirical Analysis of the Role of Contextual Factors in Moderating the Performance Impact of ERP Systems

摘要

Research on the link between investments in ERP systems and organizational performance has often led to mixed results. Besides internal organizational factors, numerous external contextual factors come into play. This study examined the role of firm size, industry, and duration of ERP system's use in moderating the relationships between antecedent variables and ERP-induced benefits, and overall firm performance. Using a sample of200 firms, we found user training and education to be a significant antecedent to ERP-induced task and process efficiency, which was in turn confirmed as a significant predictor of overall firm performance. Furthermore, both industry type and firm size were confirmed as significant moderators to the influence of user training and education on ERP task and process benefits, whereas time elapsed since ERP implementation was not a moderator.