User Perceptions of an Enterprise Content Management System

Enterprise Content Management (ECM) is an enterprise wide integrated approach to managing an organization's unstructured information such as documents, email, web pages, portals and other digital assets. ECM systems potentially leverage a knowledge repository to prevent information overload, as well as enable (1) better decision-making and increased efficiencies from enriched information sharing and collaboration; (2) compliance control; (3) lower web publishing costs; and (4) 're-usability' of the content for multiple media. However, these benefits rely on an appropriate corporate taxonomy and relevant metadata that will facilitate search in the repository. Users' perceptions of the ECM system are important since they will determine acceptance of the technology. This study assesses the factors that lead to user acceptance of an ECM system. Findings reveal the importance of cognitive engagement with the technology. The paper's main contribution is to show how a document perspective provides insights on the surprising results and highlight the importance of including the cognitive engagement construct in technology acceptance studies.