Enhancing functionality in an enterprise software package

Although enterprise resource planning (ERP) packages strive to integrate all the major processes of a firm, customers typically discover that some essential functionality is lacking. To address this issue and to complement their capabilities, both ERP vendors and customers increasingly recognize the importance of collaboration. Using a grounded theory approach, this study’s objective is to derive a theoretical understanding of how customers collaborated on enhancements to an ERP module. The main contribution is, therefore, a theoretical model that relates the two processes — selection of participants, and interorganizational collaboration — to share knowledge of a subsysytem’s best practices. Important findings are that ‘swift trust’ from the occupational community, conflict resolution, reciprocity, and informal networks impact functionality enhancement. The implication from these findings is that a deeper understanding of the functionality enhancement process benefits not only team members, but also ERP customers and collaborators overall.