The Influence of ES-CSF Profile Configurations and Human Capital on Organizational Performance

Critical Success Factors (CSF) for a successful enterprise system (ES) implementation have been widely studied at the level of individual firms. However, firms may (unintendedly) end up forming groups (clusters) whose members look alike in terms of the CSF that they emphasize during the ES implementation. The objective of this study is to identify such clusters, analyze the differences in organizational performance and ES benefits among them, and explore whether human capital amplifies the effects of the CSF-based cluster membership. Data were collected from a sample of 125 Mexican firms that have implemented ES. The data analysis indicates the presence of three distinct clusters that differ in organizational performance and ES benefits, with performance indicators being greater for high-human-capital-level firms across the clusters. The findings suggest that ES deployments are complex phenomena subject to institutional forces that shape the CSF configurations that firms emphasize. Different CSF configurations, in turn, determine whether firms profit (or not) from their ES investments.