Acknowledgements

 

In March 2012, after a SAP ERP rollout, I followed my bliss. Before then, I had never stopped pursuing the thought of starting a doctoral thesis. I approached Jan Mendling and told him about my idea to investigate ERP programs. Jan liked the idea, opened the first door to me and became my first supervisor. Thank you, Jan, for opening this door. Without your ongoing trust and passion, it would not have been possible to follow my bliss and to finish this thesis. The same is true for Edward Bernroider, my second supervisor. Thank you, Ed, for your continuous guidance and support throughout the journey. I was in the lucky position to work with you both, two extraordinary and smart academics, but mostly I loved your positive attitude. I hope that we can keep our friendship alive for the decades to come. Furthermore, I hope the models and outcomes of this thesis will inspire others to follow their bliss.

 

Additionally, I am grateful to the members of my doctoral committee Alexander Kaiser (defense and research proposal) and Volker Stix (research proposal). I would like to thank all the other members of WU Vienna (Vienna University of Economics and Business), particularly from the Institute for Information Business and the Department of Information Systems and Operations, who supported me throughout the journey.  A big thank you to all the fellows from WU Vienna, and from University of Liechtenstein, Goethe-University Frankfurt, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), University of Ljubljana, University of Cologne. Particularly, I enjoyed our time at the Flumserberg, Switzerland. I also want to express my appreciation to the academic community (e.g. the people I met at the International Conference on Information Systems 2014 in Auckland, New Zealand), too many to name personally. I enjoyed my journey with you and I am sure I will stay connected with the academic community in one form or another.