Factors Affecting Adoption of Enterprise Resource Planning Systems in the Kenyan Sugar Industry (A Case of Mumias Sugar Company LTD)

Abstract

It was found necessary to undertake this study so as to bridge the knowledge gap as concerns the factors that affect the adoption of Enterprise Resource Planning systems. The specific objectives of the study were: to establish the role of Perceived Ease of Use of Enterprise Resource Planning in its adoption; to evaluate the effect of Perceived Usefulness of Enterprise Resource Planning on its adoption; and to determine the effects of individual perception towards the adoption of Enterprise Resource Planning. The study focused on Mumias Sugar Company. The population of interest was the employees of the company who are current users of the Systems Applications Product Enterprise Resource Planning, drawn from the three categories of staff as presented in the organizational structure - Heads of departments, Managers and Supervisors, whose number stood at 200 as at 31^st December 2009. A semi-structured questionnaire was the main data collection instrument. The researcher also used interview schedules with open questions, aimed at meeting the objectives of the study. Primary data were analyzed by employing descriptive statistics such as percentages. The responses indicate that perceived ease of use was a key factor in determining adoption of Enterprise Resource Planning in Mumias Sugar Company. The employees embraced change of technology with anticipation for better performance, which further enhanced the adoption of Systems Applications Product Enterprise Resource Planning in the company. In line with perceived ease of use, the other factors that influenced the adoption of Systems Applications Product Enterprise Resource Planning in Mumias Sugar Company include the perceived feeling of comfort when using Systems Applications Product Enterprise Resource Planning, the user friendliness of Systems Applications Product Enterprise Resource Planning, the speed with which Systems Applications Product Enterprise Resource Planning processed transactions and the ability of the users to get support when using Systems Applications Product Enterprise Resource Planning. The findings also show that Perceived Usefulness is an important factor in determining the adaptation of innovations. The higher the perceived usefulness of the Enterprise Resource Planning system, the higher the chances that it would be adopted. Moreover, the degree to which an individual believes that using a particular system would enhance his or her job performance enhances the chances of adopting the system and the more the suitable the system is to the work ethic of the users the higher the acceptance rate. Further, the findings show that attitudes are a significant predictor of behavior. In addition, though individual attitude is necessary in determining adoption of new technologies, it is not sufficient condition for success. Certainly attitude may not strongly determine the intentions of an individual at the workplace regarding performance when additional factors e.g. usefulness are taken into account independently.

Keywords: Enterprise Resource Planning, Perceived Ease of Use, Systems Applications Product, Legacy Systems, Perceived Usefulness, Material Requirements Planning, Business Processes