Determinants of professionally autonomous end user acceptance in an enterprise resource planning system environment

To fully exploit the capabilities of complex technologies, businesses must deliberately foster technology acceptance by end users. This deliberate activity must recognize the complexity of factors that influence individuals’ perceptions, intentions, and usage of information technology. This study surveyed 66 professionally autonomous end users and gathered information on their perceptions related to several technology acceptance factors for a newly installed enterprise resource planning (ERP) system component. Study analyses focused on end user perceptions of ERP component usefulness, their intention to use the system, and self-reported usage of a system component. Valuable insights into the perceptions of professional end users toward a component of a complex technology were gained. Recommendations based upon the results of this study include: (a) clearly describe, early in the implementation process, an overall picture of the ERP system flow and visually show end users how the components they use “fit” into the whole system; (b) convert ERP-related “tech talk” to common end user language by either clear explanation of unique terms or associations of new terms to ones commonly understood by end users, and (c) provide adequate resources (financial, physical, human, etc.) to ensure that end users have access to timely support.