Despite the huge investments by organizations in ERP implementation, maintenance, and user training, ERP implementation failures and less-than-satisfactory productivity improvements are common. End-users' reluctance or unwillingness to adopt or use the newly implemented ERP system is often cited as one of the main reasons for ERP failures. To examine factors leading to the lack of end-user acceptance of ERP systems, we reviewed the literature on user adoption of IT in mandatory contexts, developed hypotheses to explain ERP user acceptance, and conducted a survey study to test the hypotheses. In particular, we examined end-users' attitudes toward system use and symbolic adoption, which refers to users' voluntary mental acceptance of a system, to understand user acceptance in the ERP context. Four cognitive constructsperceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, perceived compatibility, and perceived fit-were hypothesized as the antecedents. The research model was tested through a survey of end-users' perceptions concerning adopting and using a newly implemented ERP system. The findings support most of our hypotheses. Specifically, perceived compatibility and perceived ease of use have both direct and indirect effects (mediated by attitude) on symbolic adoption, while perceived fit and perceived usefulness influence symbolic adoption by being fully mediated through attitude. The study provides managerial implications for organizations that are striving to engender user acceptance of newly adopted enterprise systems and applications.

Purpose -This study aims to understand the impact of users' privacy concerns on their acceptance of social networking web sites (SNWs). Design/methodology/approach -This paper develops two research models, with privacy concern conceptualized either as an antecedent of acceptance intention, or as a moderator of the relationships in the technology acceptance model (TAM). Using a survey questionnaire, empirical data were collected from 428 undergraduate college students. Structured equation modeling was used to test the validity of the proposed research models. Findings -The privacy concerns of the research respondents were found to be statistically significant. However, they did not directly affect users' acceptance of social networking web sites. Instead, privacy concerns did moderate the effects of perceived usefulness, and perceived ease of use, on users' intention to continue to use SNWs.Research limitations/implications -The study identifies the theoretical foundations of privacy and privacy concerns in the context of SNWs. This empirical study, based on an established theoretical foundation, will help the research community to gain a deeper understanding of the impacts of privacy concern in the context of social networking. Practical implications -The findings of this study can provide SNW operators with useful strategies and tactics to enhance users' acceptance depending on their level of privacy concern. Originality/value -With the worldwide rapid growth of SNWs, there have been ongoing concerns about how users' private information is viewed or used by others. This study provides much needed empirical evidence about the impact of privacy concerns on users' acceptance of SNWs.

IT is transforming the way governments function and valuable lessons can be learned from the pioneering e-government programs that have led the charge.

No abstract