Tripartite stakeholder management during an enterprise system implementation: A processual perspective

Abstract

Enterprise System (ES) implementations remain high-risk and technically challenging projects. This is partly due to their socio-technical nature, and in particular, the involvement of multiple internal and external stakeholders. However, the importance of these stakeholders has largely been undermined in ES practice and research. There is thus a need to re-focus attention on the tripartite aspects of stakeholder management: management of stakeholder identification, prioritization and involvement. Furthermore, since stakeholders are not static entities during ES projects, this paper proposes the development of a process model for an in-depth understanding of this stakeholder management process. This paper presents a case study of an ES implementation, and a stakeholder management process model that highlights a pattern of the management of stakeholder identification, prioritization and involvement. This paper then concludes with the theoretical and managerial contributions of this study, and several areas for future research.