The longitudinal impact of enterprise system users’ pre-adoption expectations and organizational support on post-adoption proficient usage

Abstract

Although enterprise systems (ES) are ubiquitous, many firms report less than stellar payoffs from these costly investments, with underutilization often attributed to failures in the implementation process. Unfortunately, research has not provided sufficient insights into these failures, in part because it has focused on actual usage, as opposed to proficient usage, as the benchmark for successful implementation. Moreover, research has not generally examined how the adoption process unfolds over time, thus overlooking potential underlying mechanisms that may help explain how adopters achieve proficiency. To begin addressing these shortcomings, we study how adopters’ pre-adoption expectations, enacted over time, can influence their post-adoption proficiency, by shaping how and why they spend time using the system during the adoption period. We analyzed time-lagged survey data from 153 financial analysts, required to adopt new ES-based software, at a multinational bank. We found that adopters who hold pre-adoption expectations reflecting greater internal and external motives to adopt the system as well as systematically integrate it into their work routines are more apt to use the system in ways that enhance their cumulative knowledge of it, and subsequently develop higher levels of proficiency post-adoption. Moreover, greater organizational support enhanced the impact of adopters’ expectations on proficiency, except when their actual use is low in which case organizational support had an adverse effect.

Keywords:

• actual usage
• proficient usage
• intention to use
• intention to systematically integrate
• performance outcome expectations
• organizational support

Additional information

Notes on contributors

John F Veiga

About the Authors

John F. Veiga, Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor of Management Emeritus, School of Business, University of Connecticut, Storrs. His research has been published in Harvard Business Review, Journal of Applied Psychology, Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, Strategic Management Journal, Organization Science and Human Relations among others. He received his Doctorate in Business Administration from Kent State University.

Marcus M Keupp

Marcus M. Keupp is the Head of the Department of Military Business Administration at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich (Switzerland). He received his Ph.D. in strategy and innovation management from the University of St. Gallen. His research interests include international business, innovation management, intellectual property rights, and international entrepreneurship.

Steven W Floyd

Steven W. Floyd is the Isenberg Professor of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Isenberg School of Management – University of Massachusetts, Amherst. His research on strategy development has been published in Strategic Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, Academy of Management Journal, Journal of Management Information Systems, and Journal of Management, among others.

Franz W Kellermanns

Franz W. Kellermanns is the Addison H. & Gertrude C. Reese Endowed Chair in International Business and Professor of Management at the Belk College of Business at the University of North Carolina – Charlotte. He holds a joint appointment with the INTES Center at the WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management (Germany). His research interests include strategy process and entrepreneurship with a focus on family business research. His research has been published in Organization Science, Journal of Management, Journal of Management Studies, Journal of Organizational Behavior, Journal of Business Venturing, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, Family Business Review, Academy of Management Learning and Education, amongst others.