UPSI Digital Repository (UDRep)
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UPSI Digital Repository (UDRep)
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| Abstract : Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris |
| The movement towards the computerisation of business activities (Wieder et al. 2006) among organisations has occurred as a result of the influences of globalisation and competitiveness. In an attempt to further understand this scenario, a large number of academic researchers have applied different theoretical lenses to an understanding of computerisation adoption (i.e., technology adoption). As a result, the topic of technology adoption has become a mature topic in the information systems research domain (Venkatesh 2006). Despite being a mature topic, the majority of researchers have focused predominantly on exploring technology adoption as a single action activity (i.e., a snapshot) (Aguirre-Urreta and Marakas 2012) without considering other actions that could occur during the adoption process (e.g., information search, evaluation and trial). Such a narrow discussion prevents a holistic understanding of the technology adoption process, especially for corporatewide system adoption where the process needed to arrive at the final decision of adoption is a far more complex phenomenon (Damanpour and Schneider 2006). Only a few studies have conceived the importance of revealing technology adoption as a process. Given the proliferation of corporate-wide system adoption in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), the context of the study is concentrated on cloudbased enterprise resource planning (ERP). This is even more important knowing that the primary focuses of current corporate-wide system studies have been mostly on large organisations. Considering the cost and resource issues, the rate of adoption of cloud ERP among SMEs stilI remains low, raising the question of "What are the critical determinants that influence SME owners while making the decision to adopt cloud ERP?" To answer this general question and more specific questions which will be discussed in Chapter 1 (Section 1.4), we use cloud ERP as an example of corporate-wide systems and analyse the adoption decisions made by SMEs as potential major players in cloud ERP adoption. This study is designed by utilising two theoretical lenses wherein critical adoption factors are identified through the theory of planned behaviour and the progression of each factor is observed through Ettlie's (1980) multi-stage adoption model. Employing a survey method, this study has employed data gathered from 162 owners of SMEs. The use of a linear approach in this study has shown that the level of importance of adoption determinants changes across different adoption stages. However, the employment of the linear approach - for example in this study using partial least squares (PLS) - could not demonstrate the relationship of these determinants working in combination. We furthered the investigation by using a nonlinear approach - applying polynomial regression (Edwards and Parry 1993) and a response surface analysis method (Box and Draper 1987) - which facilitated the assessment of the combination of two predictor variables and related it to an outcome variable (Shanock et al. 2010). This approach demonstrates a tripartite relationship between attitude, subjective norms and intention respectively. In demonstrating these scenarios - linear and non-linear approaches - the two most critical adoption stages of Ettlie's model, namely, evaluation and trial are selected. This study makes theoretical contributions to the body of technology adoption research specifically in the domain of technology adoption by SMEs. Accordingly, this study presents an intention model by which to explain and predict decisionmakers' behaviour patterns regarding cloud ERP adoption. Further, this study contributes to the industry by providing guidance to the ERP ecosystem (vendors, consultants and communities) in an attempt to understand their potential buyers' behaviour patterns and perceptions towards the adoption of cloud ERP. It also highlights the role of external agencies (such as government or business partners) in triggering the continuity of cloud ERP adoption, especially in the early stages of the process. However, on the basis of our findings, we note that the decision-maker's attitude supersedes other determinants once the firm is using cloud ERP on a trial basis. |
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