Abstract

After investing billions of dollars in their ERP implementations, many companies have continued to struggle with system inefficiency and user dissatisfaction. This paper aims to redefine ERP usability through the lens of sociomateriality and the related concept of the mangle of practice. Presenting research on agencies and assemblages derived from ERP system utilization, we conduct a content analysis of 50 interviews with ERP users to explore how material agencies are not pre-given but emerge temporally in practice through a dialectical process of resistance and accommodation. The insights gained from this research may offer a better understanding of the agency of ERP systems, their users, and the interrelated attributes of this assemblage. This approach may be particularly valuable in researching the expansion of management knowledge related to ERP best practices in everyday organizational life.

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ERP Usability and the Mangle of Practice: Improving Work Processes and Employee Performance

After investing billions of dollars in their ERP implementations, many companies have continued to struggle with system inefficiency and user dissatisfaction. This paper aims to redefine ERP usability through the lens of sociomateriality and the related concept of the mangle of practice. Presenting research on agencies and assemblages derived from ERP system utilization, we conduct a content analysis of 50 interviews with ERP users to explore how material agencies are not pre-given but emerge temporally in practice through a dialectical process of resistance and accommodation. The insights gained from this research may offer a better understanding of the agency of ERP systems, their users, and the interrelated attributes of this assemblage. This approach may be particularly valuable in researching the expansion of management knowledge related to ERP best practices in everyday organizational life.