Factors that influence the success of multi-national information technology implementations: A study of ERP and portal implementations

Often, expensive software packages are implemented in multiple countries without attention to differences between national cultures or types of information systems (IS), and how each relates to IS success. Hence, it is important to manage such implementations effectively. This dissertation work is two-fold. First, focusing on the creation of a Global Information Technology Management (GITM) Framework. Within the GITM Framework, emphasis is placed on global implementations of sophisticated information systems in a multinational environment. Second, this dissertation focuses on the DeLone and McLean IS Success Model (D&M Model) as applied to different types of IS in multiple countries with differing national cultures. The D&M Model has been dominant in recent years for identifying the dimensions of information systems success and relationships between those dimensions. However, research to date has not focused on using this model to study success factors in the context of large multinational IS implementations. The purpose of this research is to determine how the success dimensions of the D&M Model vary in significance within national cultural (utilizing the dimensions of culture proposed by Holfstede (1997)) and the type of IS being used. The recently released Ten Year Updated DeLone and McLean IS Success Mode, with the exception of Service Quality (DeLone and McLean 2003) is empirically tested with end users from Brasil, Canada, Peru, and the USA. Two different systems, an employee portal, and an enterprise resource planning (ERP) are studied. Relationships between the dimensions of IS success for these systems in a multinational environment are examined. The result of this dissertation is an improved understanding of IS success factors in the context of multinational IS implementations. Hence, the results of this dissertation will aid IS researchers and IS professionals involved in international IS implementations by showing which dimensions of the D&M Model should be emphasized based on the national culture of the IS end-users. This study also shows how the D&M Model differs when tested empirically with different types of IS and different stakeholders.