Understanding the influences of social integration in enterprise systems use

Purpose – The purpose of this article is to aid in the understanding of the influence of social integration (SI) in enterprise information systems (EIS) use. Design/methodology/approach – An in‐depth case study was carried out, where 40 interviews were collected along with eight informal conversations, five observations, and secondary data from a company with ten years of experience in the management and application of EIS. Informants were EIS users from top management to middle management, different‐user departments, the IT department, as well as the IT vendor. Findings – A total of six social integration processes and three social integration mechanisms were identified that help to explain the influences of social integration in EIS use. Research limitations/implications – This research could be further extended to explore other possible social integration processes, enablers or inhibitors which could provide a more comprehensive understanding of EIS usage. Practical implications – By understanding the concept of SI, practitioners should be able to provide appropriate effort, attention and action which could evolve in the process to optimize productivity and efficiency of EIS use. Originality/value – The theoretical contribution of this paper is the development of a coherent conceptual social integration (SI) framework to connect the interrelationships among the three social capital dimensions proposed by Nahapiet and Ghoshal.