Abstract: This study tracks the marketability of the graduates from the College of Business at California State University Chico (CSUC), a leader in ERP education in the U.S., and compares the salaries obtained by students who graduated with and without extensive ERP skills. Our findings indicate that students graduating with an extensive ERP background have consistently obtained higher salaries than students without this background. This effect was somewhat more pronounced before the bursting of the E-commerce bubble, but remained in effect after the bubble burst. A curious finding from this study is that, for students having extensive ERP skills and both before and after the bursting of the bubble, those with lower GPA's actually received marginally higher salary offers than those with considerably better GPA's. This was not the case for students without extensive ERP skills. Our conclusion is that at CSU Chico there is significant market power which accrues to students graduating with extensive ERP skills. Hence, from a student employment or market power perspective, the ERP curriculum has been a success.

Keywords: ERP systems, ERP education, SAP R/3 instruction, Salaries

Download this article: JISE - Volume 17 Number 2, Page 151.pdf

Recommended Citation: Sager, J., Mensching, J., Corbitt, G., & Connolly, J. (2006). Market Power of ERP Education - An Investigative Analysis. Journal of Information Systems Education, 17(2), 151-162.