Exploring Accounting Employees’ Lived Experiences in ERP Implementation

Abstract

Digital transformation has significantly reshaped the field of financial management and accounting, particularly through the adoption of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems. Within this broader shift, the subjective experiences of accounting employees during ERP implementation remain insufficiently understood despite their central role in shaping organizational outcomes. The current knowledge gap lies in the limited exploration of how employees interpret and make sense of professional identity, emotions, and adaptation within digital transitions. This study involved twelve accounting employees selected through purposive sampling to ensure participants had direct and substantial experience with ERP implementation processes. The study applies an interpretative phenomenological approach to address this gap, uncovering how employees experience and construct meaning during ERP adoption. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to capture in-depth perspectives, and the transcripts were analyzed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) following established interpretive procedures. The findings reveal three central themes: the struggle of identity reconfiguration, emotional ambivalence toward digitalization, and strategies of resilience and adaptation. Employees described how ERP altered their sense of professional value, evoked both anxiety and optimism, and encouraged collaborative peer learning as a means of coping with technological challenges. These results demonstrate that ERP implementation is not solely a technical adjustment but also a profound human process that reshapes workplace meaning and professional identity. The study contributes to the understanding of digital transformation by emphasizing the human dimension often overlooked in existing research, providing insights that are valuable for both theory and practice. However, this study is limited by its relatively small, context-specific sample drawn from a single organizational setting, which may restrict generalizability. Future research should therefore incorporate broader, cross-cultural, and longitudinal designs to deepen understanding of how digital systems continue to influence professional experiences over time.