Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to determine the range of research paradigms employed in a smaller subset of Information Systems literature, namely Enterprise Resource Planning systems. A systematic literature review based on papers that mentioned ERPs was drawn from eight of the most highly ranked journals according to their h-index. The findings indicate that the majority of the ERP research papers were conducted within a positivist research paradigm, which is a far higher proportion than is suggested by other research in the general IS literature. This paper suggests that there is a strong case for ERP researchers to look at existing paradigm selection and how effectively their research relates to the ERP body of knowledge, especially in respect to the issues of importance to managers within organizations. This research also identified areas where existing paradigm evaluation methods could be enhanced and refined in respect to non-positivist classifications.