1. Review of the topic
6.3 Project success construct
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105 achieved a score of 3.33, whereas the study by Wang and Chen (2006), which included a specific construct on ERP projects success, obtained a mean of 3.17. Similarly, in this study a mean score for the construct of 3.9 was achieved, indicating that the survey respondents generally felt that their ERP projects achieved success. The study by Fitz-Gerald and Carroll (2003) suggested that around a quarter of all ERP projects failed on key project success factors such as running over budget and not finishing on time. Therefore, it was not irrational for the researcher to believe, at the outset of this study, that the mean score for the project success construct would be lower than that of Joslin and Müller (2016) and Serrador and Turner (2015), as this study focused on ERP projects, and not projects in general.
When assessing the ERP project success construct by splitting it up into its separate dimensions, it was seen that while all the dimensions scored above the average on the midpoint of the Likert-scale (indicating project success), it was the project benefits and stakeholder satisfaction dimension that scored the highest mean, with project reputation scoring the lowest. Interestingly, the former dimension contained 16 questions that contain, arguably, the most pertinent and universal factors for determining project success for any type of project (Mabert et al., 2001), whereas the project reputation dimension represents a type of fringe benefits scenario, and is not the main aim of the project. Overall, it can be concluded that ERP projects executed at large south African organisations have been generally quite successful.
In addition, through a Pearson’s correlation coefficient test to assess the relationship amongst all of the newly formed ERP project success constructs, it was only the future potential dimension that did significantly correlate with the project costs, deadline & scope dimension and the project efficiency dimension. However, all project success dimensions were significantly correlated with the project success construct as a whole, giving further credibility to the questions making up the construct (Serrador & Turner, 2015).
Further statistical analysis was performed on the construct in terms of multiple one-way ANOVA tests to determine if responses differed for the questions within the ERP project success construct depending on the demographics. Through this test and a post hoc analysis, it was found that there 8 significant (at the 0.05 level) scenarios where the project duration demographic had influenced the answers of the respondents. ERP project experience only brought about two such influencing scenarios.
For the project duration demographic, it was interesting to note that generally it was the individuals whose projects ran for over two years whom indicated that the project was less successful than their counterparts whose projects ran for a duration of less than two years.
106 From the researcher’s experience and from the viewpoint of ERP software providing firms, an ERP implementation or large-Scale ERP project consisting of one or two modules should not take over two years to implement. The average for these projects should be around a year to 18 months. The respondents have therefore shown in their answers that ERP projects than exceed the two-year duration mark will be perceived, and most likely are, less successful that projects implemented within a shorter duration (Mabert et al., 2001).
Complimentary to this, the project duration demographic had the largest and most significant effect on the project costs, deadlines & scope dimension of ERP project success. The most likely possible explanation for this is that projects that run longer in duration run the high risk of exceeding the project budget, the original timelines, and the scope of work that needs to be completed, which are all relatively critical factors of a success if achieved, and therefore these ERP projects of longer duration are less successful (Atkinson, 1999).
With regards to the effect of the ERP experience demographic on the ERP projects success responses, the analysis of the post hoc ANOVA analysis revealed that the difference in responses between respondents whom had zero to two years of experience and those with over ten years of experience had a significant influence on the project efficiency dimension of project success. Interestingly, it is the respondents with more experience who perceived their projects as being more successful, which was in line with the work of (Shanks, 2000).
This may be due to the biases of the less experienced individuals whom may have expected better results from the first one or two projects that they have been involved in, or that they possibly have doubted themselves and they work they performed more than they probably should of. But it is also very likely that those with more project experience have a better understanding of what constitutes a successful project or not, and their opinion, arguably should be taken slightly more seriously, and the opinion of the more experienced individuals is that the ERP projects are more successful in the end than the projects where less experienced individuals were involved. A spin off to this notion, and supported by the research survey results, is that it could be that projects that have the expertise of more experienced individual to work on it, have a higher chance of attaining project success than those ERP projects that employ the services of less experienced individuals.
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