A Case Study on the Impact of Customization, Fitness, and Operational Characteristics on Enterprise-Wide System Success, User Satisfaction, and System Use

Abstract

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) system success is of paramount importance for almost all organizations, as it is a prerequisite for improved and continuous benefit-realization. This study investigates the impact of ERP business dynamics (i.e., system customization required), system fitness (i.e., process fit, data fit, and user interface fit) and functional area operational characteristics on ERP system success, user satisfaction and system use. The author draws on relevant theoretical background information to construct the research model. Surveys are administered to 91 ERP system users within a multinational food company; in-depth interviews are also conducted with some system users. Empirical results indicate that the amount of ERP system customizations and/or modifications does not have any substantial impact on ERP system use or user satisfaction. In terms of ERP system fitness, these systems are found to be more suitable for complex, functional-area operational environments. The results show that only user interface fit positively affects ERP system use, while only process fit positively influences ERP system user satisfaction. In addition, different degrees of information quality, system quality and service quality have diverse effects on some of the relationships investigated. Finally, the perceived net benefit from an ERP system depends on how the ERP system is used, rather than the management level of the users.