An Examination of Information Technology Assets and Resources as Antecedent Factors to ERP Sysytem Success

Organizations adopt enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems to improve information exchange across the enterprise. Research continues to show that adopting organizations do not achieve the intended objectives with the acquisition of such packages. Studies are needed to understand factors – contingent or otherwise – that may help increase knowledge in the area. This study was designed to contribute to that discourse. We examined the effects of select few information technology (IT) assets and resources, i.e. IT budgets, organizational actors’ IT skills/knowledge, IT function’s value, external expertise, and so forth, on ERP success. While such antecedent factors matter in the discourse, research combining them in order to assess their effects on ERP success is rare. Using a crosssectional field survey, we collected data from 165 firms in three Nordic countries. Data analysis was performed using the partial least squares (PLS) technique. Statistical support was found for nine (9) out of the fifteen (15) hypotheses formulated. External expertise and organizational IT skills/knowledge were found to have significant, positive effects on ERP success, as did satisfaction with legacy systems, a result that contradicts conventional wisdom in the area. Our data did not indicate that IT function’s value, IT department size and budgets have significant effects on ERP success.