IT Diffusion, Implementation and Assimilation in Micro-Businesses – an Exploratory Study Based on a Process Approach

An important limitation of the management information systems (MIS) literature concerns the lack of a process model to understand how a system is assimilated by the organization. We seek to contribute to this topic through studying ERP adoption in two Chilean restaurants. In this paper is proposed that adoption occurs as a process composed of four stages and, therefore, it is presented findings from three of them. We used action-research (AR) as a methodological framework. Two AR cycles were performed in each case. Qualitative data was collected from the field through video recording, interviews, observation and social network analysis. Analysis data was analyzed by comparing results within-cases and between-cases. Three conclusions were reached: (1) during the implementation, a user-system negotiation cycle occurs; (2) after assimilating, the system must be constantly confirmed, otherwise can be abandoned; (3) speed of assimilation by group users depends of degree of influence in the social group of early adopters. Interestingly, an innovative micro-business owner could become a barrier to successful assimilation of a system. Findings introduce a dissenting view to most studies that have found that involvement of management is always beneficial to the success of a technology project. Our findings show involvement of owner impacts a successful adoption, but this impact is not because that person is the owner, but because of their degree of influence on the social group. Conclusions of this study will be of interest to micro, small and medium-business owners because it shows the value of social structure of the organization as a determinant of the success of a technological project.