중소 농산물 유통경영체의 ERP 도입의도와 영향요인에 관한 연구

ERP systems are integrated systems that process various types of information needed for companies. According to a report by KEBIX, there is a huge gap between large companies and small to medium size enterprises (SMEs) in the extent to which they adopt and use ERP systems. Differences also exist between large companies and SMEs in the factors affecting companies' decisions to adopt ERP systems. It is imperative, therefore, to investigate what factors influence SMEs' intention to adopt ERP systems and how these factors differ from those of large firms. This study investigates the factors that influence SMEs' intention to adopt ERP systems in the context of agricultural SMEs. Agricultural SMEs play the role of intermediary between farmers and retail companies such as department stores and discount stores. Since SMEs have limited resources for IT they tend to change their business processes to the information systems they are adopting, instead of developing customized information systems for their business processes. Also, SMEs have difficulties in providing solid education and training programs to users. Relationship with partner companies can be an important determinant of system adoption for SMEs. SMEs have less power in collaborating with other companies, especially with large companies. Therefore, the relationship with partner companies is expected to be an important factor in ERP adoption. Some researchers view ERP adoption as a “innovation adoption” because ERP systems entail so many changes in the organization adopting it. Diffusion of innovation (DOI) by Rogers(1973) is a widely used framework to explain the pattern of adoption and use of information systems. According to DOI, there are different types of technology adoption among people : “adapters” and “innovators”. Adapters seek proven solutions aligned with past management while innovators look for fundamental solutions that can change the structure of the problem. The first hypothesis is derived from this discussion. H1 : SMEs with more innovative CEOs will have higher intention to adopt ERP systems. Organizations lacking proper knowledge to understand the functions and the technologies associated with a system tend to delay adoption decisions. If CEOs have been exposed to ERP systems or had chances to observe the benefits, they would be more willing to adopt ERP systems. This leads to the second hypothesis : H2 : SMEs with CEOs having more knowledge on information technology will have higher intention to adopt ERP systems. In the same vein, if an organization's employees had more experience or knowledge on a certain technology, they would be more positive adopting the technology. Organizations with less knowledge or experiences would delay the use of the technology. H3 : SMEs having more experiences with information technology will have higher intention to adopt ERP systems. Organizational culture is rooted on the value system shared by the organization and the members. Past studies showed that organizations with optimistic organizational culture were more effective. Organizations having more optimistic and corporative culture would be more positive in adopting ERP systems which will improve the performance. H4 : SMEs having more corporative organizational culture will have higher intention to adopt ERP systems. Past studies posited that the “task-technology fit” is a critical factor that determine the success of an information system. Task here is defined as “information processing behavior carried out by an individual” and technology is defined as “tools used by individuals to carry out his/her task.” In the context of information systems, technology refers to “tangible and intangible tools and support services provided to support users.” People are more willing to adopt a technology when they believe that the technology will improve their productivity. In other words, those who perceive higher task-technology fit would be more positive on adopting the technology. H5 : SMEs perceiving more task-technology fit will have higher intention to adopt ERP systems. Past studies on EDI revealed that a company's relationship with its partner companies affected the intention to adopt EDI systems. SMEs typically have less power compared to their large partner firms. Agricultural SMEs' most influential partners are large retail companies which have sophisticated ERP and other information systems. From those retail companies' point of view, it would be better to do business with those SMEs having ERP systems. Therefore, if an agricultural SME has a strong relationship with those retail firms, the SME would be influenced by those retail partners and have stronger motivation to adopt ERP systems. H6 : SMEs having stronger relationship with partner companies will have higher intention to adopt ERP systems. Korean government provides various supports for agricultural SMEs. If the government supports more for ERP systems or if SMEs perceive that the government promotes use of ERP system, SMEs have more incentives to use ERP systems. H7 : SMEs perceiving stronger government support will have higher intention to adopt ERP systems. In order to test these hypotheses, operational variables of the constructs were developed mainly based on past studies. A summary of operational variables for each construct and references are shown in <Table 1>. A survey was administered among agricultural SMEs in Korea. After eliminating invalid responses a total of 30 responses were used for the final analysis. Basic demographic statistics of the respondents are shown in <Table 2>. The results of validity check are summarized in <Table 4> and <Table 5>. Most constructs met the criteria for validity checks. Partial least square (PLS) method was used for further analysis in this study. The analysis results are shown in <Figure 2>. As shown in the figure, the impact of CEO characteristics was not statistically significant. Organizational characteristics and external environment were significantly affecting SMEs' intention to adopt ERP systems. The implications of the results can be summarized as follows : First, people's experience with IT and organizational culture are important factors that affect SMEs' intention to adopt ERP systems. Also, as people perceive the system fits with their tasks, SMEs have more intention to adopt ERP systems. This implies that ERP systems would be adopted more by SMEs if proper training and chances to experience ERP systems are provided. Second, the stronger relationships SMEs have with their partner companies, the more intention they have to adopt ERP. It provides an important implications : the partner firms' systems should be considered to determine what type of systems should be deployed to SMEs. Third, government support is a critical factor for SMEs to adopt ERP systems. It probably is because SMEs have limited resources and it is a risky decision for them to invest money in ERP systems. If government firmly supports their adoption of EPR, SMEs would be able to make decisions with more confidence.