| Abstract | Rapidni razvoj tehnologija na globalnoj sceni omogućio je razne poslovne prilike te postavio velike izazove pred sve sudionike tržišta. Posebice je navedeno utjecalo na mala i srednja poduzeća koja čine najveći segment svakog nacionalnog gospodarstva. Njihova agilnost i responzivnost pomažu im da ostanu konkurentni na tržištu i na taj način održe svoje poslovanje u nepredvidivim i dinamičnim okolnostima. Iskorištavanje modernih tehnologija omogućuje im da se natječu i s najvećim tržišnim liderima. U tom kontekstu, integralni informacijski sustav koji čini „kralježnicu“ jedne organizacije i osnovni temelj operativnog i izvještajnog poslovanja, može značajno pomoći ili odmoći u postizanju organizacijske uspješnosti. Integralni informacijski sustav može se definirati kao modularno, prilagodljivo aplikativno programsko rješenje koje na temeljima jedinstvene relacijske baze podataka omogućava holistički pogled na cjelokupno poslovanje uključujući standardizaciju i optimizaciju poslovnih procesa kroz koje integrira sve procese, odjele i funkcije unutar organizacije u svrhu upravljanja svim resursima i izvještavanja svih dionika u potrebnim vremenskim rokovima. Slijedom svega navedenog, postavljaju se pitanja koja su od začetka ovakvih sustava u fokusu interesa istraživačke zajednice, a to su: (1) Koji su integralni informacijski sustavi uspješni?; (2) Kako se uspješnost definira?; (3) Kako se može izmjeriti; te (4) Koje su posljedice u smislu utjecaja na organizaciju?.
U ovom doktorskom radu je cilj istražiti utjecaj uspješnosti integralnih informacijskih sustava na organizacijsku responzivnost. Potonji konstrukt je definiran kao brza reakcija organizacije koja je odgovor na nastalu i proširenu značajnu informaciju na tržištu. U svrhu ostvarenja cilja istraživanja kreiran je model koji opisuje uspješnost integralnog informacijskog sustava kroz četiri dimenzije, a to su organizacijska spremnost, upravljanje projektom, prihvaćanje sustava i previranja okoline. Postavljeni okvir uspješnosti integralnih informacijskih sustava predstavljen je po prvi put, a cilj je empirijski ispitati njegovu valjanost. Korištena je metoda strukturnih jednadžbi (SEM) za analizu povezanosti konstrukata predstavljenih u modelu.
Znanja stečena dobivenim rezultatima mogu koristiti daljnjim istraživanjima, ali se mogu primijeniti i u praktičnim okolnostima odnosno mogu se aplicirati u stvarne poslovne situacije. Model se može primijeniti neovisno o industriji u kojoj malo ili srednje poduzeće posluje. U konačnici je zaključak da što je integralni informacijski sustav u organizaciji uspješniji, sama organizacija je responzivnija. Drugim riječima, ovim istraživanjem empirijski je dokazan utjecaj između uspješnosti integralnih informacijskih sustava i organizacijske responzivnosti. Osim zaključenog, istraživanjem je utvrđeno da različite dimenzije uspješnosti integralnog informacijskog sustava različito utječu na sveukupnu uspješnost sustava. Upravljanje projektom i prihvaćanje integralnog informacijskog sustava utječu na uspješnost integralnog informacijskog sustava dok organizacijska spremnost i previranja okoline nemaju utjecaj na uspješnost sustava.
Zaključno, integralni informacijski sustavi su razvojem tehnologija postali znatno financijski dostupniji i time ušli u fokus svih malih i srednjih poduzeća, pa je budućnost ovog tržišta na globalnoj razini u trendu rasta. Sukladno navedenom, istraživačka zajednica informacijskih sustava će u budućnosti interes posvetiti kontekstu malih i srednjih poduzeća te pronalaženju novih neistraženih utjecaja informacijskih sustava na organizaciju poput konstrukta iz ovog rada, organizacijske reponzivnosti. Svakako rezultati ovog istraživanja omogućuju brojne druge potencijalne ideje za buduća istraživanja, pri čemu bi se rezultati mogli ispitati na drugim populacijama poput europske ili globalne. Sami konstrukt organizacijske responzivnosti, za razliku od primjerice organizacijske agilnosti, je oskudno istraživan i stavljan u odnose sa drugim varijablama iz literature o informacijskim tehnologijama (IT), ali i organizacijske literature općenito. Tu se krije veliki potencijal jer je dinamičnost tržišta toliko visoka, da rijetko koji sudionik na tržištu može popratiti sve potencijalne prilike koje mu se neprimjetno nude. |
| Abstract (english) | Rapid technological development on a global scale has enabled various business opportunities and posed great challenges to all market participants. Small and medium-sized businesses, which are the backbone of every national economy, were especially affected by the aforementioned fact. Their agility and responsiveness enable them to remain competitive on the market and keep their business running despite unpredictable and dynamic circumstances. They are able to compete with top industry and market leaders thanks to implementation and usage of modern technologies. In this context, an ERP system, which serves as an organization’s "backbone" and the basis for operational and reporting activities, can substantially contribute to or hinder the organizational performance. ERP system can be defined as a modular, adaptable application software solution that, based on a unique relational database, enables a holistic view of the entire business including standardization and optimization of business processes through which it integrates all processes, departments, and functions within the organization for the purpose of managing all resources and reporting to all stakeholders within the required time frames. As a result of the foregoing, questions that have piqued the interest of the research community since the inception of such systems are raised, namely: (1) Which ERP systems are successful? (2) How to define success? (3) How can it be measured? and (4) What are the effects on the organization?
The purpose of this doctoral thesis is to explore the impact of ERP system success on organizational responsiveness. The latter concept is defined as an organization's swift response to newly generated and disseminated intelligence that appeared on the market. To meet the research's goal, a model was developed that depicts the ERP success in four dimensions: organizational readiness, project management, ERP system adoption, and environmental turbulence. The established framework for the ERP success is presented for the first time, and the aim is to empirically examine its validity.
Methodology:
The structural equation method (SEM) was used to analyse the relationship between the constructs presented in the model. SEM was chosen because it includes the ability to model complex and multidimensional constructs, estimate measurement error, test multiple hypotheses simultaneously, and the ability to include latent variables in the analysis. Croatia has a population of 14.267 small and medium-sized companies. Due to their characteristics and potential for requiring expensive and complex systems, such as ERP, micro-entities have been eliminated. 8.597 active small and medium-sized enterprises in Croatia were offered by the sample selection framework after choosing two out of three conditions regarding regulatory systematization of enterprises by their size. The representativeness of the sample was ensured by using a random sample. Starting with a randomly chosen number decided on the basis of a table of numbers, each company from the sample selection frame had an equal probability of being included in the sample by step method. Any company’s activity, industry, geographical location, or other characteristic that might have an effect on the sample's representativeness has been eliminated. Top management, or the person in charge of overseeing ERP systems, or the head of the IT department, if one exists, are the reporting units inside the investigated organization. Before mailing the questionnaire, the researcher conducted in-depth interviews with four organizations whose employees were interested in the subject matter and were willing to take the time to discuss the questions. The interviews were used to determine whether all of the questions were clear and understandable. The questionnaires were distributed online, and the minimum sample size required for the study to be valid was determined to be 150 responses. The required sample size for sending the questionnaire was also determined to be 1.875 enterprises. 158 valid responses were collected and further analysed. The statistical program SPSS ver. 26 was used to process the data obtained from the questionnaire. Further, descriptive and inferential statistical approaches were used for analysis and interpretation. The research sample's characteristics, including those of the respondents, those of the company, and those pertaining to the level and way of use of the ERP system, were initially examined. After utilizing Cronbach's alpha to assess reliability, a descriptive analysis of the research constructs was conducted, followed by an exploratory factor analysis. The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin test, Bartlett's test, and Chi-square test were applied. A scree plot (Cattelli diagram) was used to extract the construct factors, and a path diagram of the construct factors was used to highlight the factors specified by the manifest variables. Varimax rotations of the construct factors were also carried out. In conclusion, the research's initial and structural models were analysed, and specific conclusions were derived.
Findings and future recommendations:
The knowledge gathered from the collected results can be beneficial to future studies, but it can also be applied practically, i.e., in actual business situations. The model can be applied regardless of the industry in which a small or medium-sized company operates. Finally, the conclusion that can be drawn is that the organizational responsiveness is proportional to the success of its ERP system. In other words, the relationship between the ERP system success and organizational responsiveness has been empirically proven in the context of small and medium-sized enterprises by this research. In addition to the conclusion, the research found that the various success dimensions of ERP system had various implications on the system's overall success. Project management and ERP system adoption influence the ERP system success, whereas organizational readiness and environmental turbulence have no effect.
Finally, as a result of technological advancements, ERP systems have become much more financially accessible and thus entered the attention of all small and medium-sized businesses, implying that the future of ERP market on a worldwide basis is in a developing trend. In light of the aforementioned, the information systems research community will devote attention to the context of small and medium-sized enterprises in the future and look for new, undiscovered influences of information systems on the organization, such as the construct of organizational responsiveness. Without a doubt, the findings of this study open up a wide range of new possibilities for future research, where the findings might be evaluated on other populations such as European or global small and medium-sized enterprises. Contrary to organizational agility, for instance, the mere concept of organizational responsiveness has received very little investigation and comparison to other factors in the literature on information technologies (IT) and organizational literature in general. There is enormous potential hidden in the construct of organizational responsiveness since the market is so dynamic and few market participants can keep up with all the possible opportunities that are out there, available to be grabbed. |
