ADOPTION OF OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE IN GOVERNMENTAL CONTEXT: A POSITIVISTIC CASE STUDY IN CHINA

As the rapid development of open source software (OSS) has deeply impacted global software industry, government agencies in different countries all over the world have started to realize the huge potentials of OSS application. Based on the TOE framework for organizational level IT/IS adoption, this paper proposes a conceptual model for examining the adoption of open source software in the governmental organizational context. A positivistic case study is conducted in the government agencies of Beijing, China, so as to validate and develop the proposed model, as well as to investigate the adoption status and related influence mechanisms. Findings from the analysis demonstrate the explanatory validity of the model, and provide potentially helpful insights for future practice

Open Source Adoption and Use: A Comparative Study Between Groups in the US and India

Open source software communities work in a loosely knit organizational structure that works primarily on the motivations of gift and contribution of source code. They communicate using modern Internet-based applications and organize themselves into self-guided virtual communities. Several methods of collaboration and development of intellectual property through software within these communities are quite unique and innovative. Current research effort mainly focused on understanding the individual motivations, collaboration mechanisms, and associated project management challenges of various OSS projects. However, as open source software usage moves mainstream and becomes more and more widespread, factors drive its diffusion and adoption deserve more research attention. Using the concepts of innovation adoption, we attempt to examine the possible drivers that influence adoption of open source software within different open source communities. In particular, the results from two user groups - one from an OSS community in United States, one from an OSS community in India, are extensively compared and contrasted to gain better understanding of factors that lead to adoption and use of open source software

Open Data Standards for Open Source Software Risk Management Routines: An Examination of SPDX

As the organizational use of open source software (OSS) increases, it requires the adjustment of organizational routines to manage new OSS risk. These routines may be influenced by community-developed open data standards to explicate, analyze, and report OSS risks. Open data standards are co-created in open communities for unifying the exchange of information. The SPDX® specification is such an open data standard to explicate and share OSS risk information. The development and subsequent adoption of SPDX raises the questions of how organizations make sense of SPDX when improving their own risk management routines, and of how a community benefits from the experiential knowledge that is contributed back by organizational adopters. To explore these questions, we conducted a single case, multi-component field study, connecting with members of organizations that employed SPDX. The results of this study contribute to understanding the development and adoption of open data standards within open source environments

Developer-Led Adoption of Open Source Software Libraries: A Conceptual Model

Researchers have historically viewed Open Source Software (OSS) as a homogenous group of technologies and assumed adoption behaviors are uniform among OSS types. Focus on specific OSS types is rare and OSS libraries, in particular, have been underrepresented. This paper recognizes the unique characteristics of OSS libraries and notes that their adoption may receive less organizational scrutiny than other software packages. A conceptual model based on an augmented theory of Task Technology Fit (TTF) is offered to provide insight into OSS library adoption. If supported, this model represents not only a theoretical contribution to the OSS literature, but a source of actionable information for practitioners engaged in software development

Classifying Organizational Adoption of Open Source Software: A Proposal

Part 1: Full PapersInternational audienceStaged adoption models are a common feature of information systems (IS) adoption literature, yet these are rarely used in open source software (OSS) adoption studies. In this paper, a staged model for classifying the organizational adoption of OSS is proposed, based upon a critical review of existing staged adoption models and factors identified from OSS adoption literature. Innovations in the proposed model include: defined transition pathways between stages, additional stages and a decomposition of cessation of use into four distinct pathways

ABCD AS A DIDACTIC TOOL IN PROMOTING LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SCIENCE

Libraries and academic institutions today are moving towards adoption of open source software for various organizational functions. Some of the open source software used by libraries include ABCD, Koha, Newgenlib, Evergreen, OPALs, Greenstone, Eprint, Dspace, Drupal, Open Biblio, Jhoomla and Plone. The above software can be used to better library functions and operations as well as improve teaching and learning in the discipline of Library and Information Science (LIS). LIS is considered as a cross cutting discipline that aims at training information professionals to serve in different capacities around the world. This report therefore covers different aspects of how ABCD can be used as a didactic tool in Library and Information Science.Ope

Refining Organizational Adoption

Organizational adoption of innovations is complex with a large theoretical literature. This complexity is captured in TOE (Technology, Organization, and Environment) models that often place equal weight on these three groups. This study examined the theoretical constructs in TOE by assessing how technology, organization, and environment interacted to impact five different organizations and their adoption of open source software (OSS). Findings supported the development of an additional construct (socio-technical) that provided new insights into the adoption process. Using an adaptive structuration approach, the socio-technical construct provided new insight on the differences in organizational approaches to IT. This mediated traditional adoption constructs, helping to explain the differences in organizational adoption, and provided an explanation for the different adoption outcomes. Utilization of this new construct can assist practitioners when planning for the adoption of new technologies in organizations

Exploring the Interplay Between FLOSS Adoption and Organizational Innovation

Growing research on Free/Libre Open Source Software (FLOSS) has addressed a variety of questions focusing on aspects ranging from open source development processes and developer motivation, to economic and policy-making implications. Nevertheless, a few authors have examined the adoption of FLOSS and its impact on organizational change and innovation. Adoption studies represent a particularly promising area for information system researchers to investigate the relationship between the specific properties of FLOSS and the processes of implementation and use. The goal of this article is to contribute to this field of research by discussing a former multi-targeted research agenda and by defining an empirically grounded framework for studying FLOSS adoption, drawing on the outcomes of an exploratory multiple case study involving sixteen Italian public administrations