Business Process Management Journal

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of such contingency factors as top management support, business vision, and external expertise, on the one hand, and enterprise resource planning (ERP) system success, on the other.

Design/methodology/approach – A conceptual model was developed and relevant hypotheses formulated. Surveys were conducted in two Northern European countries and a structural equation modeling technique used to analyze the data.

Findings – It was found that the three contingency factors positively influence ERP system success. More importantly, the relative importance of quality external expertise over the other two factors for ERP initiatives was underscored

Originality/value – It is argued that ERP systems are different from other information technology implementations; as such, there is a need to provide insights as to how the aforementioned factors play out in the context of ERP system success evaluations for adopting organizations. As was predicted, the results showed that the three contingency factors positively influence ERP system success. More importantly, the relative importance of quality external expertise over the other two factors for ERP initiatives was underscored. The implications of the findings for both practitioners and researchers are discussed.