An Empirical Investigation of ERP System Self-Efficacy Beliefs: Examining the Effects of ERP System Characteristics

Abstract

Computer self-efficacy (CSE) is well recognised as a significant and reliable determinant of enterprise resource planning (ERP) adoption and utilisation. However, CSE is a multifaceted concept that can be applied at a general computing level or an application-specific level, most past studies of CSE in ERP settings failed to make this distinction or examine CSE towards ERP systems and focused predominantly on CSE as a general computing construct. Furthermore, past research has focused on investigating the consequences of CSE in ERP-related behaviours and little or no attention has been given to exploring factors that can influence CSE at the ERP level. This study attempts to address these two issues and fill this void in the literature. First, this study seeks to address and examine CSE at the ERP system level. Second, this study will focus on investigating external factors affecting ERP self-efficacy beliefs. The external factors examined in this study are the ERP system characteristics of user interface, complexity, and learnability on. The results provide strong support for the effects of ERP user interface, complexity, and learnability on ERP self-efficacy beliefs. ERP user interface also demonstrated a significant impact on perceived complexity and learnability of ERP systems. Several practical and research contributions can be drawn from the findings reported in this study.