The effects of enterprise resource planning (erp) systems post-implementation on strengthening the technology capacity for digital government excellence

Abstract

Government authorities are embracing digitalization to provide user-friendly services to citizens and simultaneously reduce the cost of offering such services. There are success stories, but failures also abound. Technology is not the only determinant of failure; other determinants include process, people, and structural issues within institutions. The purpose of this quantitative study, guided by previous studies, is to determine some of the barriers that governments have encountered following the implementation of enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems in a digital government context. It also aims to investigate the strategies used to ensure the continued success of ERP post-implementation and the impact of these strategies on strengthening the technical capacity of digital government transformation by studying the opinions of ERP system users working in government authorities in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The study also tests the mediating effects of ERP post-implementation success on the adoption of digital government. A survey was sent to government employees who are using enterprise systems representing a sample of 450 participants within the United Arab emirates. The questionnaire was administered during the special big technology event of 2019 in UAE. The measurement model was created using EFA. Reliability, convergent validity, and discriminant validity were also assessed using CFA followed by SEM and path analysis to test the hypotheses and to identify significant predictors of current Post ERP practices and digital government excellence. The main factors and strategies included peoples’ readiness, process readiness, absorptive capacity, shared understanding, interactive communication, ERP post-implementation success, and digital government excellence. Results showed that the proposed determinant factors of ERP post-implementation success had a statistically significant relationship with the successful implementation of ERP systems. Furthermore, results showed a statistically significant relationship between ERP post-implementation success and digital government excellence. The findings have important theoretical and practical implications; there are still obstacles facing digital government that lead to a high failure rate. Therefore, the UAE’s technology decision makers in should frame their strategic approach with a comprehensive change management plan throughout the firm founded on organizational readiness, effective communication, and knowledge management. Change includes the potential to improve the government authorities’ readiness, cultivate more knowledgeable employees, increase digital government excellence indicators, spread knowledge, increase ERP users’ experience and expertise in government, and improve the digital government excellence overall. Finally, one key implication of this research is that it provides evidence of the relationship between government back-end systems and digital citizen services. This should encourage government authorities to assist decision makers in paying more attention to their ERP systems, process, people, and structural issues within organizations. The primary theoretical objective of this research is to contribute to the body of knowledge regarding both ERP systems post-implementation and digital government excellence.