An Empirical Study of Some Critical Adoption Factors of ERP Software

This article complements and/or extends inquiries on information systems (IS) adoption; it develops an eight-factor framework within the T-O-E taxonomy and empirically tests it to explain the adoption of the enterprise resource planning (ERP) software amongst small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Survey data were collected from executives of service SMEs in Nigeria. Purposive and snow ball sampling techniques were used and analysis involved partial least square (PLS). The T-O-E factors had a statistically significant effect on ERP adoption; factors within technology and organization had positive coefficients, and those within an environment had negative coefficients. On the average, unit increase(s) in the complexity of the pressures results in less likelihood to adopt ERP or vice versa. Thus, the observed T-O-E antecedent factors critically explain ERP adoption. Managers will make informed investment decisions on how integrated systems systematically improve competitive advantage.