INVESTIGATION OF FACTORS INFLUENCING SATISFACTION AND LOYALTY TOWARD USE OF ENTERPRISE RESOURCE PLANNING SYSTEMS: A CASE OF TANZANIAN HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS

ERP system, EMS, IS quality, perceived usefulness, social influence, user satisfaction, user loyalty, IFM.

Abstract

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems are developed to accomplish and integrate business processes across institutions’ functions and settings. Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) are one of the recent institutions which have deployed ERP systems. Many studies on ERPs in HEIs have concentrated on intention to use, usage and continuous usage, with little attention to user satisfaction and loyalty over ERP systems. Based on Information System (IS) success literature and enriching it with other factors, this study develops a framework to examine the effects of IS quality factors, perceived usefulness, and social influence on users’ satisfaction and loyalty toward ERP systems’ use. The snowball technique was employed to gather the perceptions of 163 Institute of Finance Management (IFM) employees. The results indicate that social influence has a medium impact on both satisfaction and loyalty of employees who are using ERP systems. Perceived usefulness and satisfaction also greatly impact satisfaction and loyalty, respectively. The major contribution of this study was to investigate the factors affecting satisfaction and loyalty over ERP systems in HEIs in one setting. The implication of theory and practice and future studies are discussed.