Beyond ERP Implementation - Enterprise Information Systems Design, Implementation and Management: Organizational Applications - page 235

cess, yielding significant benefits for the business
(Jasperson et al., 2005).
Completing the system's implementation
is, in fact, not the end of the ERP journey. Like
other complex information technologies, once
the system is installed, the adopting organization
must ensure the effective assimilation of the ERP
in order to be able to reap its benefits (Chatterjee
et al., 2002). Effective assimilation is achieved
when employees' sense of ownership of the sys-
tem is high, when it becomes institutionalized in
the organization's work processes, and when it is
efficiently deployed at the various levels of mana-
gerial activities (Botta-Genoulaz & Millet, 2005;
Cooper & Zmud, 1990). A primary objective of
this research is therefore to investigate the factors
that could explain why some firms are more suc-
cessful in assimilating their systems than others.
Moreover, prior ERP research predominantly
focused on the North American context (the United
States in particular) and, to a lesser extent, the
western European context. Scant studies dealt with
developing countries (Ngai et al., 2008), despite
the valuable lessons that could be learned from
their experiences. Huang and Palvia (2001) argue
that in developing countries, ERP technology
confronts extra challenges which are intrinsically
connected to several contextual reasons such
as culture, economic conditions, government
regulations, management style, and labor skills.
Nevertheless, studies about ERP experiences in
developing countries are scarce. Additional efforts
are therefore required to fill this research gap.
For our research, we chose to study two sets of
companies: one operating in a developed country
which is Canada, the second operating in Tunisia;
a developing country from the unexplored North
African region.
This chapter is organized as follows. First, we
provide an account of the theoretical foundations
of the concept of assimilation. Next, we describe
the theoretical framework and the methodology
that guided our empirical research. In section 4, the
cases' analyses and research findings are presented

followed by a discussion of the findings. Lastly,
we offer some concluding thoughts.

theoreticAL foundAtions

The diffusion of innovation theory represents our
primary approach in studying the assimilation
process. Roger's diffusion of innovation theory
posits that both the perceived attributes of the in-
novation and the firm's characteristics influence
the adoption and use of an innovation (Rogers,
1983). Although it seems to be quite appropri-
ate for studying innovation use, Roger's model
has been criticized for being mainly applicable
to simple technological innovations requiring
individual decision-making. More research has
therefore been made, based on Roger's theory,
to better explain the diffusion of complex tech-
nological innovations. For instance, Tornatzky &
Feleischer's (1990) model considers three aspects
of the firm's context (technology, organization,
environment (TOE)) that influence a complex
innovation's adoption and assimilation process.
In their diffusion stage model, Cooper and Zmud
(1990) identify six stages for IT projects, three of
which denote the post-implementation phase: ac-
ceptance, routinization, and infusion. During the
infusion stage, the system becomes deeply and
comprehensively embedded in the organization's
work system and value chain. At this stage, the
firm further integrates the system and extends its
functionalities by adding new modules or applica-
tions to support new activities and reach external
partners (Muscatello & Parente, 2006).

reseArch frAMeWork

Drawing on ERP implementation and IS as-
similation literature, we focused on factors within
the three main contexts that could influence the
ERP assimilation process: technological context
factors, organizational context factors, and en-