Actors’ interaction in the ERP implementation literature

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify the existence of studies, by exploring the current literatures, on interaction among actors in Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) implementation. Design/methodology/approach – A new classification framework is offered, along with the two dimensions of ERP implementation: determinants and outcomes, to provide four types of research classes. Hundreds of articles were searched by using keywords from journal data bases. The selected articles were grouped based on the new classification of ERP implementation, followed by an in-depth analysis by using the Context, Intervention, Mechanism, Outcomes logic and the system of systems methodologies (SOSM) framework. Findings – The interactions among actors in ERP implementation have been overlooked, although there is almost always disagreements, misperceptions, and conflicts. Managing the interactions among actors is considered important because common failures in ERP implementation are often caused by mismanaged interactions among the key actors. Unfortunately, the existing research has so far shown a small effort to study how the actors’ interactions are managed. Research limitations/implications – One key limitation of this research is that the number of actor-related articles is lesser than the factor-related articles. Further research should be conducted to explain how to manage the interactions among the actors in each stage of ERP implementation. Practical implications – A guidance to prepare the entire organization prior to the ERP implementation to seriously consider the typical conflict among actors on each stage of ERP implementation and its causal factors and how to resolve them. Social implications – The importance of understanding typical conflict among actors, its causal factors, and how to resolve them can be extended to other projects or social phenomenon. Originality/value – This proposed framework is new to the ERP literature and serves to identify and expand further research on actors’ interactions to improve the success of ERP implementation. This is the first research to identify the interactions among actors in ERP implementation by using a clearly structured methodological approach, which is conducted by critically reviewing the ERP implementation literature.