Socio-Technical Factors Affecting ERP Implementation Success in Pakistan: an Empirical Study

An Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system automates and integrates key business processes of an organization and provides information to the top management required for strategic decision making. The implementation of ERP systems in organizations is a challenging task. Apart from the technical factors associated with ERP implementation, various socio-technical factors are found critical during ERP implementation. This research is focused on exploring the most critical factors, either technical or socio-technical, which may contribute towards successful ERP implementation in organizations. Research findings are based on survey research conducted in public and private organizations in Pakistan. Before conducting the final survey, a survey instrument was validated using a pilot study. A sample for the pilot survey was selected using a random sample of 8 organizations. Initially, 24 factors were taken. However, after doing factor analysis only 14 factors were included in the final survey. For the final survey, questionnaires were sent to 202 Managers/Project Directors in organizations where ERP systems had already been implemented or the implementation of ERP was in a final stage. In response, 116 useable questionnaires were received with a response rate of 57.42%. The research findings showed that professional manpower, project scope definition, business process re-engineering, top management support and change management are the top most critical factors in an ERP implementation. The findings may be of interest for practitioners and a valuable contribution to the existing body of knowledge of ERP implementation.