Alhebishi, MHM (2018) THE IMPACT OF ENTERPRISE RESOURCE PLANNING (ERP) SYSTEMS ON THE PERFORMANCE OF ACADEMICS WITHIN THE CONTEXT OF UNIVERSITIES IN SAUDI ARABIA. Doctoral thesis, LIVERPOOL BUSINESS SCHOOL.

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Abstract

This study investigated the impact of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) on the performance of academics in Saudi Arabian universities. It identified the factors that significantly impact the academics' performance while using ERP systems in the context of Saudi universities within the Higher Education sector, which will enhance and increase the universities’ overall performance. It developed and validated a model that portrays the critical factors, which significantly impact academics’ performance while using the ERP systems in the Saudi universities context. The literature reveals that there is a limited consensus of views on ERP research and that many studies fall short of providing empirical evidence about the practical implications, failure rates and users’ evaluation of the systems. ERP research tends to be polarised between the critics who see its benefits as rather limited and others who believe ERP is a multi-dimensional and complex system, which can successfully be implemented and evaluated. The combination of quantitative and qualitative approaches provides an in-depth investigation of the factors that significantly impact academics’ performance while using ERP systems within the context of Saudi universities. Data were collected using a questionnaire involving 457 academic users. This was supported by qualitative data using semi-structured interviews with six participants and public documentation. The findings of the quantitative phase revealed that there were nine significant factors related to both dimensions, system quality and service quality, which impact the academics’ performance while using ERP systems. The factors were timeliness, ease of use, currency, training, compatibility, tangible, empathy, assurance and responsiveness. However, other factors such as flexibility, authorisation and reliability were not significant in the current context. These findings were consistent with those of the qualitative phase, which gave more insights into the findings of the study. This study has provided a platform for further in-depth research into the users' evaluation of ERP systems in the context of Saudi universities, by expanding the literature, which will benefit future research. In addition, the theoretical contribution for this study is providing an examination of the viability of the model of research proposed, using the example of Saudi universities, for explanation of the factors that have a direct and significant influence on academics’ performance when using ERP systems. Moreover, another important contribution to existing theory from this study is research model validation through the collection of empirical data from academic members of staff within a developing Middle Eastern country, Saudi Arabia. The practical contribution for the current study is that the proposed model can be applied by the decision-makers and academics in universities to coordinate their efforts to effectively support the ERP systems in order to increase the universities’ overall performance.

Item Type:	Thesis (Doctoral)
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP); Universities' Context; Academics’ Performance
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor L Education > LB Theory and practice of education > LB2300 Higher Education
Divisions:	Liverpool Business School
Date Deposited:	29 Jun 2018 07:49
Last Modified:	23 Nov 2022 10:02
DOI or ID number:	10.24377/LJMU.t.00008893
Supervisors:	Foster, SCOTT
URI:	https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/8893

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