Yuqiang Feng

The mediating effect of organizational culture and knowledge sharing on transformational leadership and Enterprise Resource Planning systems success: An empirical study in China

Senior leadership has been identified as a critical factor in fostering Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems success, however, the specific impact mechanism of transformational leadership on ERP success is still largely unknown. Based on organizational culture theory and knowledge based view, this study developed a theoretical model to explore the mediating effect of organizational culture and knowledge sharing on transformational leadership and ERP success. Data was collected from 115 IS executives and 413 ERP end users in 115 organizations in China. Partial Least Squares (PLS) analysis results suggest that transformational leadership is directly related with all the four types of organizational culture - development culture, group culture, hierarchical culture and rational culture, and is indirectly related with knowledge sharing and ERP success. Specifically, development culture has direct impact on ERP success, while hierarchical culture, group and rational culture are indirectly related with ERP success, mediated by explicit and tacit knowledge sharing. The research findings can provide guidelines for the top executives to facilitate appropriate organizational culture, so as to foster ERP knowledge sharing and achieve business benefits with the assimilation of ERP systems.

From transactional user to VIP: how organizational and cognitive factors affect ERP assimilation at individual level

This study extends the enterprise resource planning (ERP) assimilation research from organizational level to individual level with the argument that it is the individual users who transform ERP systems’ capabilities into organizational performance. We employed a multi-case study method in this exploratory research with the objectives of defining individual level ERP assimilation and identifying key influential factors. Interviews with ERP users at all levels in five organizations revealed four key drivers: influence of supervisors, performance evaluation schemes, intrinsic motivation, and perceived usefulness, as well as two significant moderators: job specifications and individual absorptive capacity. Moreover, evidence suggests a potential relationship between individual level and organizational level ERP assimilations. Our findings highlight the importance of individual level assimilation within a firm in the post-implementation phase and provide managerial insights on how firms could improve ERP assimilation at the individual level that could impact the organizational level assimilation.

A Conceptual Model for Studying the Influence of Charismatic Leadership on ERP Implementation Lifecycle

In the context of ERP implementation, leadership is consistently found to be the most important factor leading to implementation success. However, most of the studies focus on leader’s strength and authority while ignoring the important role leader’s personal charisma plays in the implementation process. In addition, there is a lack of study on the underlying process of how leadership acts during the lifecycle of ERP implementation. In this paper we first introduce charismatic leadership from five dimensions, and divide the ERP implementation lifecycle into three phases: first adoption, secondary adoption and assimilation. We then propose a conceptual model for studying the influence of the five dimensions on each phase of the ERP implementation and analyze which of the dimensions plays a greater role in each phase. We conclude the paper by providing some suggestions on future research directions.

Understanding Organizational Level ERP Assimilation: A Multi-Case Study

Assimilation of ERP technology into organizational routine has received increased attention in the literature. The main objectives of this study are to examine the different levels of ERP assimilation in companies and to understand the primary drivers of organizational level ERP assimilation. Using a multi-case study method in this exploratory research, we conceptualize ERP assimilation at organizational level in a hierarchical model from supporting business process, to supporting operational decision marking, and to supporting business strategies. We then identify some primary drivers of organizational level ERP assimilation, including environment uncertainty, perceived usefulness, and internal managerial need. Finally, we identify some facilitating factors for organizational level ERP assimilation, including interaction with vendor, cautious implementation strategy, and strong IT champion. Theoretical contributions and managerial implications are discussed.

An entropy-based social network community detecting method and its application to scientometrics

Community structure is one of the important properties of social networks in general and in particular the citation networks in the field of scientometrics. A majority of existing methods are not proper for detecting communities in a directed network, and thus hinders their applications in the citation networks. In this paper, we provide a novel method which not only overcomes the above mentioned disability, but also has a relative low algorithm time complexity which facilitates the application in large scale networks. We use the concept of Shannon entropy to measure a network’s information and then consider the process of detecting communities as a process of information loss. Based on this idea, we develop an optimal model to depict the process of detecting communities and further introduce the principle of dynamic programming to solve the model. A simulation test is also designed to examine the model’s accuracy in discovering the community structure and identifying the optimal community number. Finally, we apply our method in a citation network from the journal Scientometrics and then provide several insights on promising research topics through the detected communities by our method.

Effectiveness of Top Management Support in Enterprise Systems Success: A Contingency Perspective of Fit between Leadership Style and System Life-Cycle

Top management support has been identified as one of the most important factors in the success of enterprise systems (ES). However, few studies have addressed the issue of what type of leadership is most effective in which phase of the ES life-cycle. Given the different challenges to leadership in the different phases of an ES, a ‘one-style-fits-all’ approach is clearly inadequate. In this study, we analyze the contingent fit between the recognized leadership styles and the phases in the ES life-cycle. The evidence from a multi-case study provides support for our contingency propositions that transformational leadership fits best with the adoption phase, transactional leadership fits best with the implementation phase, and two variations of combined transformational and transactional leadership styles are most effective in the assimilation and extension phases. This study breaks new theoretical ground in information systems literature by highlighting the contingencies of leadership effectiveness in the success of ES at different phases. It also provides prescriptive insights for top executives in terms of who to put in charge and what type of leadership style to look for when considering adopting and implementing new ES, assimilating the implemented systems, or contemplating integrations with business partners.

How Leadership Styles Impact Enterprise Systems Success throughout the Lifecycle: A Theoretical Exploration

Top management support has been identified as one of the most critical factors to the success of enterprise systems. However, few studies have addressed the issue of what type of top management support is most effective in which phase of the enterprise systems lifecycle. In this study, we argue that the effectiveness of management support is dependent on the top managers leadership style and the specific phase of enterprise systems. Given the different challenges resulted from enterprise systems in different phases, and the variety of top management leadership styles, a one-size fits all approach is clearly inadequate. Drawing upon extant literatures, we propose a theoretical framework to clarify the relationships between the two most recognized leadership styles and the four phases of enterprise systems lifecycle. Specifically, we argue that transformational leadership is more effective in the adoption phase, while transactional leadership is more effective in the implementation phase, and a mixed leadership is more effective for the assimilation and extension phases. Our study deviates from the traditional focus on transformational leadership in management literature and breaks new ground in IS literature by highlighting the effectiveness of leadership in the success of enterprise systems throughout the lifecycle.

Analyzing the time delay between scientific research and technology patents based on the citation distribution model

Promoting knowledge diffusion and reducing the delay between scientific research and technology patents is important to achieve success in the highly competitive global environment. This paper studies the time delay between scientific research and technology patents, and focuses on the key components of time in the promotion of knowledge transformation. Based on United States Patent and Trademark Office patent data, we apply periodical citation distribution models to the patent process. The results show that our transfer function model is better than others, and is suitable for calculating the delay between basic scientific research activities and technology patents.

Improving the publication delay model to characterize the patent granting process

Drawing upon the periodical publication delay model and the Weibull distribution model, we develop an improved model and conduct an exploratory analysis to characterize patent grant delay, and learn the crux of the problem. In order to test the effect of the new model, we perform an experiment based on a database of four technological fields from the United States Patent and Trademark Office. The results show that the new model can improve the fitting effect, and is suitable for calculating the time delay between patent application and grant. In addition, we apply the improved model in two different technological fields to study the changing rules in the last two decades by comparing the results, and obtain some valuable information. For a theoretical contribution, we deduce the examination probability under steady-state conditions, extend the periodical publication delay model from a negative exponential distribution to a Weibull distribution, and overcome the shortcomings of the original model.

The Impact Mechanism of Organizational Culture on ERP Assimilation: A Multi-case Study

Based on competing values framework (CVF), this study employed a multi-case study method to explain how organizational culture influences enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems assimilation. By analyzing the case evidence of four firms from China, we found that (1) internal-oriented culture influences ERP assimilation through coordination mechanisms, (2) external-oriented culture influences ERP assimilation through organization learning, (3) cultural balance within the CVF is of great importance in achieving higher level of ERP assimilation. The research findings can provide guidelines for the firms to facilitate appropriate organizational culture, so as to foster coordination mechanisms as well as organizational learning and achieve business benefits with the assimilation of ERP systems.