Knowledge Creation and ES Implementation: The Absorptive Capacity Lens

In this paper we suggest that ES (Enterprise systems) implementation is an absorptive capacity (AC) challenge. However, we acknowledge that the insights provided by the AC lens are limited in that the construct takes into account only the possession perspective of knowledge and the concept of power is very weakly discussed. We argue that ES implementations, especially if seen from a process perspective, would benefit from a comprehensive discussion on how external knowledge (here related to information technology and how it is practiced in organization) is recognized, assimilated, and applied with respect to the possession and the practice perspectives of knowledge and power. We also argue that materiality, one element of practice theorizing, should be incorporated into AC. Our claims are supported by an illustrative case study of a large-scale ES project where AC developed over time; our theorizing leads us to an interpretation of AC that focuses on social, political and material processes of absorption of (external) knowledge involving ES.