Routine and Innovative Use of Enterprise System: Intricacy of Change Management Levers, System Characteristics, and Regulatory Focus

The success of enterprise systems (ESs) hinges on employees’ ability to integrate these systems into their daily tasks, encompassing both routine and innovative uses. This study proposes a model based on the context-specific theorization framework that examines the interplay between usage context (leadership styles and support structures), system characteristics (modularity and complexity), and user characteristics (situational regulatory focus) in shaping employees’ ES usage (routine and innovative uses). Using longitudinal field survey data from employees and managers at a large company implementing a customer-relationship-centric ES, we identify three key findings. First, distinct paths emerge from leadership styles (transactional versus transformational) and support structures (impersonal versus personal) that influence ES use through situational regulatory focus (prevention versus promotion). Second, system characteristics exhibit varying moderating effects: system modularity strengthens the relationship between prevention focus and routine ES use. However, it has no significant effect on the relationship between promotion focus and innovative ES use. In contrast, system complexity weakens the relationship between prevention focus and routine ES use while strengthening the relationship between promotion focus and innovative ES use. Third, routine and innovative ES use differentially influence job outcomes, including leader-rated job performance and employee self-evaluated job satisfaction. In summary, organizations should tailor change management levers, consider system design nuances, and acknowledge individual regulatory focus to maximize ES potential and improve employee outcomes. Theoretical contributions and managerial implications are discussed.

History: Jason Thatcher, Senior Editor; Heng Xu, Associate Editor.

Funding: This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [Grant No. 72071190], the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities [No. JZ2023HGPA0294], the Shenzhen Science and Technology Program [Grants No. JCYJ20220530112800001 and No. 2021CX020219], and the Singapore Ministry of Education Tier 1 Grant [No. T1 251RES2213].

Supplemental Material: The online appendices are available at https://doi.org/10.1287/isre.2022.0160.