THE IMPACT OF ERP SYSTEMS ON MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTING PRACTICES AND PROFESSIONS: THE CASE OF HMC-QATAR

Abstract

This thesis explores the impact of enterprise resource planning (ERP) technology on management accounting practices (MAPs) in the public healthcare sector in Qatar. It aims to understand the effect of this technology on two critical groups of professionals in this field, namely clinicians and accountants. In addition, the research intends to examine the role of ERP in the relationship between these actors in the context of MAPs. Thus, the institutional logics perspective theory is adopted to develop a theoretical framework to deepen the understanding of each group’s perspective, highlighting the alignment and misalignment among finance, clinical, and ERP logic. Further, it considers an interpretation of the clinicians’ response to MAPs and their relationship with finance in light of ERP. To do so, this study adopted a qualitative research approach and a single case study as a research strategy. Data were principally obtained from 12 semi-structured interviews conducted with clinical managers and finance members at Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC), the main public healthcare organization in Qatar. In addition, secondary documents were used to triangulate the data, and a thematic analysis was used to analyze the interview data. This case study has implications for the implementation of ERP technology in both public and private healthcare organizations (HCOs), as it highlights the associated benefits and challenges of using ERP. In addition, it contributes to institutional logic and management accounting research by re-evaluating the implementation of MAPs within ERP by providing a single case study and considering two conflicting groups of actors in public health. The results demonstrate that ERP logic affects the actors, when practicing MAPs, to varying extents based on their values, norms, and culture. The case study indicates that ERP logic is compatible with clinical logic in most aspects. At the same time, it appears to clash violently with ERP in terms of standardization, which was not the case for finance. In addition, the results show that ERP logic complements accounting logic, especially in control practice, while a number of contradictions appear as the accountants demand more transparency, and the accessibility seems to inflate their responsibility. The research thus highlights the similarities and differences of the two perspectives. Further, the research findings demonstrate that the accessibility and transparency of data in ERP engage clinical managers in the management process and lead to mitigate the contestation. Generally, the findings shows that ERP logic works as a mediator between the clinical managers and accountants when practicing MAPs.