Switching Toward Cloud ERP: A Research Model to Explain Intentions

This paper aims to develop a research model to explain managers' intentions to switch toward cloud based ERP (Enterprise Resources Planning). Indeed, as cloud computing is considered as a true revolution in Information Technologies field, ERP market is shaping toward more cloud based solutions. However, since cloud computing is presented as a risky alternative, cloud ERP adoption may faces reticence from managers. On the other hand, thanks to the benefits of such system associated to the known difficulties of On-Premises ERP, some managers would rather be motivated to switch to the cloud solution. Thus, from the proposed research model we attempt to present factors that influence managers' intentions to switch toward cloud ERP. By considering IT switching as a particular form of IT adoption, we based our literature review on Theory of planned behavior (TPB) to identify the determinants of switching. This review also allowed us to integrate the expected switching benefits and risks as antecedents and the personal innovativeness as a moderating factor. To contextualize our research model, we performed semi-structured interviews in four Saudi Small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The use of Nvivo 10 to codify and analyze the interviews content combined to a deep analysis of previous researches helped us to improve the research model by adding two additional factors: “top management support” considered as the main determinant of intentions and “satisfaction with actual system” as an important antecedent linked closely to switching.