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Top1. Introduction
Designed to replace disparate legacy systems and to support a full range of business functions, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems integrate business processes by standardizing data, storing them in a shared database, and making the data accessible on a real time basis. Davenport (1998) characterized the embrace of ERP as the most important development in the corporate use of information technology. In the twenty-first century, adoption and implementation of ERP systems in businesses of different sizes and industries continue to grow. The worldwide ERP software market was $7.3 billion in 2000 (McAdam & Galloway, 2005) and has increased to $25.4 billion in 2013 (Columbus, 2014).
Interests in implementing ERP systems are primarily driven by their appeal as fully integrated systems that replace disparate legacy systems. In addition, adopting organizations are presumed to benefit from the best business practices embedded within ERP software packages (Davenport, 1998; Nah, Islam, & Tan, 2007; O'Leary, 2000; Sieber, Siau, Nah, & Sieber, 2000; Lee, Siau, & Hong, 2003). As the transition to ERP often involves fundamental organizational changes, the costs of implementation are generally much higher than those of other information systems projects (Hitt, Wu, & Zhou, 2002). Despite the huge investments, many ERP implementations, i.e., up to about 70% of them, fail to deliver anticipated benefits (Galy & Sauceda, 2014).
Given the growing significance of ERP projects, research that focuses on ways to improve ERP implementation is of high relevance (Robey, Ross, & Boudreau, 2002). IS researchers have identified a number of key factors that are critical to ERP implementation success (Al-Sabaawi, 2015; Barker & Frolick, 2003; Chang, Cheung, Cheng, & Yeung, 2008; Hong & Kim, 2002; Nah & Delgado, 2006; Nah, Lau, & Kuang, 2001; Nah, Zuckweiler, & Lau, 2003; Ngai, Law, & Wat, 2008; Ram & Corkindale, 2014; Scott & Vessey, 2002; Siau, 2004; Wah, 2000). While many key success factors address organizational level issues such as management support, change management, and communication, the ultimate goal is to have the functional potential of the ERP systems fully realized by users. In other words, the true business value of an ERP system is derived through appropriate use by its target user groups.