To Use or Not to Use—ERP Resistance is the Question: The Roles of Tacit Knowledge and Complexity

Abstract

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems in business environments demand multidisciplinary understanding and collaboration between functional departments. The traditional educational paradigm isolates the learning of each functional discipline as if business people operated in functional isolation. ERP system value can only be realized by collaborating across business functions. Integral to the success of ERP use is the tacit or unconscious understanding of the concepts underlying business processes and the dynamic interplay of collaborating business functions. Resistance to ERP systems often occur due to the high complexity of these business processes. This study describes an experiment in ERP based on an immersive experiential learning environment using the leading commercial ERP system to create a realistic and dynamic business situation. Multidisciplinary knowledge is measured by multiple methods of self‐reported and knowledge structure assessment. Survey measures of both declarative and tacit knowledge are used to assess student learning, and standard measures assess perceived resistance to ERP use. Results show perceived complexity to be a parsimonious predictor of resistance to ERP use. Findings further support the importance of assessing tacit knowledge (gained from conceptual experiential learning), and demonstrates avenues to create a highly effective multidisciplinary learning program.

Stagewise Overview of Issues Influencing Organizational Technology Adoption and Use

“…Aptitude refers to the potential and capabilities that an organization possesses through its employees' tacit and explicit knowledge, their awareness, skill level, and expertise (Naor et al, 2015 ; Vrhovec et al, 2015 ; see Freeze and Schmidt, 2015 ). Attitude is a collection of many constituent elements shaping how employees view the organization.…”

“…PEOU is also related to technological efficacy, which is about having a sense of capability based on one's technical skills and the procedural knowledge that is needed, and being confident that new skills and knowledge can be acquired (for more details, see Hopp and Gangadharbatla, 2016 ; Martins et al, 2016 ). A lack of technological efficacy could lead to the experience of technostress and possibly job dissatisfaction and resistance to change (Freeze and Schmidt, 2015 ). PEOU may be influenced by how sophisticated the technology is (Ghorab, 1997 ): for example, if the technology presented is an early prototype, it will not yet be well-developed and will not be easy and smooth to use.…”

“…It helps with managing technostress, promotes learning and knowledge sharing, and enhances psychological safety. It shows commitment on the part of the management, and the social support that will help overcome all kinds of challenge during the adoption process (Freeze and Schmidt, 2015 ; Wells et al, 2015 ; Avadikyan et al, 2016 ).…”

“…This way of thinking is referred to as the competency trap in the literature (Cichosz et al, 2020 ). Resistance ranges from passive to active and from covert to overt, and it is influenced by previous experiences of learning and using similar technologies (Freeze and Schmidt, 2015 ). It can result from low employee motivation and increased ambiguity resulting from changes in work performance measures and conflicts with employees' innate value system (Barrett, 2018 ), causing goal conflict (Obal and Morgan, 2018 ).…”

Enterprise Job Roles and Resistance to ERP Use: Actual Usage as an Antecedent to ERP Resistance

“…Resistance to IS has been shown to be effected by the users Attitude [2] and the Technical Complexity [15] of the system. Since the experiment included both pre and post measures of IS Resistance, the findings reveal the impact of the intervention on user variables from prior IS Resistance to post Resistance outcomes.…”