Socio-organisational influences on information security during ERP implementation

M.Tech. (Information Technology)This study conceptualises the effects of socio-organisational factors during Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) implementations and the impact these have towards ERP system security. Social Exchange Theory (SET) is applied in the study. SET is premised on the notion that there is a reward exchange between actors, the main purpose being to maximise benefits and minimise costs to the different actors involved in the ERP implementation. The study looks at SET‟s three independent socio-constructive factors: exchange relations, dependency and power in relation to ERP system security. Pertinent discourse dwells on power and exchange relations that occur during an ERP implementation and how these relations influence information security. Potential benefits and risks towards information security are examined across these relations. The research is quantitative in nature and a survey was directed to people involved in ERP implementations. The study contributes to the discipline by developing a framework for conceptualising the relationship between power, dependency and exchange relations applicable during an ERP implementation. The main goal would be for such a model to be useful for ERP system security. The main findings from this study are that some of the socio-organisational factors like Expert Power, Referent Power, Coercive Power and Exchange Relations influence the implementation of Information Security during ERP implementations. Socio-organisational factors like Reward Power, Positional Power and Dependency were found to have no influence or minimal influence on the implementation of Information Security during ERP implementations