User Satisfaction: An Overarching Measure of Enterprise System Success

User Satisfaction is one of the most extensively used dimensions for Information Systems (IS) success evaluation with a large body of literature and standardized instruments of User Satisfaction. Despite the extensive literature on User Satisfaction, there exist much controversy over the measures of User Satisfaction and the adequacy of User Satisfaction measures to gauge the level of success in complex, contemporary IS. Recent studies in IS have suggested treating User Satisfaction as an overarching construct of success, rather than a measure of success. Further perplexity is introduced over the alleged overlaps between User Satisfaction measures and the measures of IS success (e.g. system quality, information quality) suggested in the literature. The following study attempts to clarify the aforementioned confusions by gathering data from 310 Enterprise System users and analyzing 16 User Satisfaction instruments. The statistical analysis of the 310 responses and the content analysis of the 16 instruments suggest the appropriateness of treating User Satisfaction as an overarching measure of success rather a dimension of success.