scholarly journals Critical factors affecting the adoption of open source software in public organizations

Author(s):  
Mohanad G. Yaseen ◽  
Saad A. Abd ◽  
Ibarhim Adeeb

Context: The way public organizations produce, acquire, use, and commercialize software is changing as a result of open source software (OSS). Because of the numerous benefits provided by open source software, public organizations began to use it to meet their demands. As a result, governments implement various measures to encourage and facilitate OSS use. A variety of factors continue to influence the choice to implement OSS, which can have a positive or negative impact on the adoption process. Objective: The study’s purpose is to explore the most critical factors that may influence the open source software adoption process, which are drawn from chosen case studies from various domains in public organizations. Based on their findings, the authors produced a guideline to tell prospective adopters about the most crucial factors that they may confront during the adoption process. Method: Authors chose a handful of publications that address three public domains: healthcare, municipal government, and higher learning institutions. We looked for articles based on various criteria, beginning with their relevance to open source software adoption in general and, more specifically, in the public sector. We also screened the papers based on whether they were written in simple English or if they were written in another language. Results: According to the findings, government and top management support, reliability, security, availability, and cost ownership are the most influential elements that contributed to the adoption process’s success. Lacking of in-house development, connectivity, quality, computing resources, and expertise were identified as barriers to the adoption of open source software in specific sectors.

2010 ◽  
pp. 1571-1589
Author(s):  
Ashley Davis

Open source software is becoming more prevalent in businesses today, and while still a relatively immature offering, open source enterprise resource planning (OS-ERP) systems are becoming more common. However, whether or not an OS-ERP package is the right software for a given organization is a little researched question. Building on the current real options thinking about platform acquisitions, this chapter proposes the five most critical factors to consider when evaluating an OS-ERP package. To adequately do this, a great deal of detail about the current offerings in OS-ERP software is presented, followed by a review of the real options theory and thinking behind using these factors to evaluate OS-ERP options. The international implications of OS-ERP are presented in the “Future Trends” section.


2015 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
RadhaKanta Mahapatra ◽  
Rashid Manzar ◽  
Vikram S. Bhadauria

Adoption and continuance of use of open source infrastructure software by large business organizations is not well understood. This study fills this gap in research by conducting a longitudinal investigation of the adoption and use of MySQL by two large corporations. One organization, an early adopter, adopted and used MySQL for several years before reverting back to a proprietary product. The other, a late adopter, made an initial adoption decision but didn't deploy it in mission critical applications. Interestingly, free software and freedom to access and modify the source code, the hallmark of the open source model, were not found to be significant in promoting adoption. In contrast, high quality maintenance support and timely product enhancement to keep up with user needs were considered critical for initial adoption and continued use of software. The study also demonstrates the need to investigate continuance of use to get a complete picture of open source software adoption and use by organizations.


2009 ◽  
pp. 1675-1698 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian Fitzgerald

Current estimates suggest widespread adoption of open source software (OSS) in organizations worldwide. However, the problematic nature of OSS adoption is readily evidenced in the fairly frequent reports of problems, unforeseen hold-ups, and outright abandonment of OSS implementation over time. Hibernia Hospital, an Irish public sector organization, have embarked on the adoption of a range of OSS applications over several years, some of which have been successfully deployed and remain in live use within the organisation, whereas others, despite achieving high levels of assimilation over a number of years, have not been ultimately retained in live use in the organization. Using a longitudinal case study, we discuss in depth the deployment process for two OSS applications – the desktop application suite whose deployment was unsuccessful ultimately, and the email application which was successfully deployed. To our knowledge, this is the first such in-depth study into successful and unsuccessful OSS implementation.


2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 641-659
Author(s):  
Namjoo Choi ◽  
Joseph A. Pruett

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify barriers and drivers to open source software (OSS) adoption, and measures awareness and adoption stages of OSS in US academic libraries. Design/methodology/approach An online survey of chief information officers, chief technology officers or heads for IT in US academic libraries was conducted. A total number of 179 responses were used for data analysis. Findings From the survey, the authors identify significant barriers and drivers that US academic libraries may consider before adopting OSS and found that awareness itself is not a barrier. While about half of respondents confirmed using OSS, the authors found surprisingly low levels of intent to adopt from current non-adopters. Practical implications This research offers insights for promoting OSS adoption. Also, it provides funding agencies and administrators with guidelines to encourage successful deployment of OSS in higher education. Originality/value While extant research is mostly anecdotal, this research draws from an online survey to snap-shot the current state of OSS adoption in US academic libraries and provides a baseline for practice and research.


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