Assessing Performance Gains of a P2P System Based on User Acceptance : A Case Study on National Real-Estate Companies

Sammanfattning: The Unified theory of Technology Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model suggest that the user acceptance before adopting a technology will greatly affect how the technology is accepted, and in effect its impact and performance in the organisation. A technology that is having an increasing presence in organisations is Procure-to-Pay (P2P) systems. P2P systems have been shown to achieve performance gains after a successful implementation in the form of increased efficiency, higher quality and better control in the procurement process. Being able to assess beforehand the performance gains of a technology before adoption is a crucial step for organisations seeking to lower uncertainties. This research assesses the importance of user acceptance as a precondition for a successful implementation of a P2P system. The research was conducted as a multiple case study at three organisations; Jernhusen, Akademiska Hus and Specialfastigheter. Jernhusen is considering adopting a P2P system. Akademiska Hus and Specialfastigheter have undergone the adoption of a P2P system. By measuring the user acceptance at Jernhusen the performance of a P2P system was assessed from a theoretical standpoint. The performance of a P2P system, and how well the implementation had succeeded was measured at Akademiska Hus and Specialfastigheter and put in relation to the measured user acceptance before adoption. This provided data to assess to what extent user acceptance is a precondition for a successful implementation of a P2P system. The study found that the user acceptance at Jernhusen, Akademiska Hus and Specialfastigheter was low before adoption. The theory indicate that this would lead to low adoption of a P2P system at Jernhusen and few performance gains. However, performance measurements made at Akademiska Hus and Specialfastigheter indicated that the P2P systems have led to medium to high performance gains respectively despite of low user acceptance before adoption. The research therefore concluded that user acceptance is not an important precondition for a successful implementation of a P2P system.