Change management practices and organizational performance outcomes of electronic records systems: evidence from petroleum companies in South Sudan

Integration of Electronic Records Systems (ERS) in petroleum organizations also relies on proper change management, especially in dynamic and resource limited scenarios such as that of the South Sudan. The research was done to evaluate the effect of change management practice on the ERS-based organizational performance outcomes in the South Sudan petroleum industry. Quantitative research design was used in the study, which involved a survey questionnaire applied to 178 employees in five petroleum organizations in Upper Nile, Unity/Ruweng, and Jonglei States on change management practices in ERS integration in petroleum industry in South Sudan based on the Change Management Theory and Technology developed by Lewin, and the Organization, Technology, and Environment (TOE) theory. The multiple regression indicated that 43-percent variance of the organizational performance outcomes in the petroleum industry in South Sudan is significantly explained by the practices of change management (R 2 = 0.43, F = 44.33, p = less than 0.001). In the petroleum industry of South Sudan, leadership commitment ( = 0.38, p = 0.001) was the most significant factor in change management, after which was staff training ( = 0.24, p = 0.003) and communication ( = 0.21, p = 0.012). The performance of ERS, Employee involvement, although positively correlated ( = 0.14), was not statistically significant ( = 0.089), indicating that opportunities to be involved in the existing strategies of implementation are very limited. Conclusion: The paper concludes that change can only be unlocked through leadership-based, capacity-building and communicative approaches to change in fragile contexts to unlock the potential of ERS. The results of the present research can be viewed as helpful recommendations to those managers and policymakers who are interested in improving the digital record management and operation in post-conflict and developing nations.