ERP implementation as a broad socio‐economic phenomenon: The agora of techno‐organisational change

The aim of this paper is to contribute to an understanding of enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementation that goes beyond the restricted time and space limits of a project‐based restructuring effort, and to understanding of it as a broader socio‐economic phenomenon.

A case study of the adoption and implementation of an ERP in a Greek bank is examined through an extended multi‐level analytical framework based on Pettigrew's “contextualist” and “processual” research model. The metaphor of the ancient Athenian agora is used to theorise the socio‐economic environment around ERP implementation. In‐depth, semi‐structured interviews and documents were used as data.

Findings suggest that although ERP implementation is seen by the majority of relevant IS literature as happening locally in restricted time‐frame, project‐based efforts, it rather emerges from broader socio‐economic contexts of the agora of techno‐organisational change. Different actors develop bounded understandings (viewpoints) of the agora which they use to navigate and engage it. A viewpoint is also a mechanism to link an actor's local circumstances with broad socio‐economic developments.

The context of financial services/markets offers possibilities for future research around ERP given the ongoing need for integration of legacy systems. Future case studies in financial service organisations could provide a link between frequent financial crises and technological development. Also, future studies of multiple ERP implementations as well as studies focusing on ERP suppliers’ choices, could add a comparative dimension useful to understand alternative agora configurations.

Practitioners should approach ERP implementation as a broad socio‐economic phenomenon instead of a project‐based episode of change.

Originality lies on the development of an extended, multi‐level analytical approach and on the introduction of a new spatial metaphor for understanding the socio‐economic environment around ERP implementation.