Title: The role of contextual factors in moderating the performance impact of ERP systems: an empirical analysis

Authors: Mohamed Abdalla Nour

Addresses: College of Computing and Informatics, The University of Sharjah, Sharjah, P.O. Box 27272, UAE

Abstract: Ascertaining the benefits from investments in ERP systems continues to be a largely inexplicable research problem, complicated by numerous external contextual variables and internal organisational factors. This study examined the role of industry type, geographic scope, firm size, and time elapsed as contextual variables moderating the significant antecedent influence of top management support and user training and education on ERP-induced benefits and overall firm performance. Using a sample of 200 organisations and structural equation modelling, we confirmed the antecedent effect of both top management support and user training and education on ERP-induced task and process efficiency, and integration and coordination, as direct predictors of overall firm performance. Task and process efficiency was in turn found to have a significant direct effect on overall firm performance, but integration and coordination were not. Our findings also confirmed the significant moderating effects of all the four contextual variables - industry, scope, size, and time elapsed. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Keywords: enterprise resource planning; ERP-induced benefits; firm performance; contextual factors; moderating variables; antecedents.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBIS.2024.138553

International Journal of Business Information Systems, 2024 Vol.46 No.1, pp.1 - 31

Received: 23 Oct 2020
Accepted: 03 Mar 2021
Published online: 12 May 2024 *

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