The third belief component in Figure 3.1 is perceived behavioural control (PBC), associated with belief structures of the same name. This belief component is defined as an SME's perception of the control over the personal/internal or external factors that may facilitate or constrain the use of OSS (Ajzen 1991; Taylor and Todd 1995b; Venkatesh et al. 2003). This definition suggests that PBC can help us to identify controllability factors that represent an SME's capability or readiness, and understand how such factors affect its control over the use K. Mijinyawa
Chapter 3: Conceptualisation of Open Source Software Adoption 63
of OSS. We argue that, owing to their subjectivity across different SMEs, organisational factors will be better explored using the decomposed belief structures of the PBC. Therefore, the decomposed belief structures of the PBC will be operationalised for identifying organisational factors.
Following that the PBC is relevant in this study, because it allows us to identify organisational factors that influence the perceived control over the use of OSS, the structure of the DTPB shows that perceived control also contributes to the formation of intention to use or not use OSS. This argument leads to the proposition that:
Proposition 3: An SME's perceived control over the use of OSS has a direct influence on intention.
This proposition explains the influence of perceived control on the formation of intention.
Therefore, the PBC can explain how the combined effects of organisational factors lead to the formation of intention to use or not use OSS. The belief structures of the PBC – selfefficacy, resource facilitating conditions (RFC), and technology facilitating conditions (TFC) (Taylor and Todd 1995b; Venkatesh et al. 2003) – will now be operationalised in turn, to enable the identification of the internal capabilities and resource conditions that can facilitate or constrain the use of OSS and the explanation of their influence.
The first control belief structure in Figure 3.1 is selfefficacy and is defined as the SME's personal/internal ability or confidence to use an OSS successfully (Taylor and Todd 1995b).
Thus, selfefficacy represents an organisational capability for using an OSS and, consistent with Ajzen (1991) and Taylor and Todd (1995b), subjects with selfassured skills and confidence to use an OSS are more inclined to adopt it. This argument will now be supported with examples of the related organisational factors – staff IT capacity and OSS innovativeness.
Literature on general ICT adoption suggests that staff IT capacity (see section 2.3.3 and Blackburn and Athayde 2000; Darch and Lucas 2002; Duan et al. 2002; Houghton et al. 2001;
Lawson et al. 2003; Martin and Matlay 2003), can influence the decision to use an ICT. This factor was also identified as influencing the usage of OSS (Fitzgerald and Kenny 2003; Geira 2004) and it is seen as a personal/internal ability that enables the use of OSS in the organisation. Thus, staff ITcapacity represents an aspect of selfefficacy in the use of the OSS.
The second example of selfefficacy in Figure 3.1 is the innovativeness of management and staff and this is seen as the confidence driving the use of an OSS in the organisation (see
Chapter 3: Conceptualisation of Open Source Software Adoption 64
section 2.3.2 and Dedrick and West 2003). Thus, OSS innovativeness represents the personal/internal confidence to use OSS in the organisation. In this context, OSS innovativeness is an aspect of selfefficacy in the use of the OSS.
Based on these examples of selfefficacy, we argue that if an SME has the relevant IT skills or staff IT capacity, or OSS innovativeness, this has a positive influence on its perceived control over the use an OSS. This leads to the following proposition:
Proposition 3a: Selfefficacy has a positive influence on an SME's perceived control over the use of an OSS.
This proposition explains the effect of personal/internal factors on the perceived control over the use of OSS in the organisation. Thus, selfefficacy can be applied to explore related organisational factors that represent an SME's ability or confidence to use an OSS.
The second control belief structure in Figure 3.1 is resource facilitating conditions (RFC) and is defined as the supporting resources, such as time and money, that may facilitate or constrain the use of OSS (Taylor and Todd 1995b). This definition suggests that while resources such as time and money are essential in using OSS, a lack of them can inhibit its use in the organisation. Literature analysis suggests that capital investments (see section 2.3.1) is a resource related factor that can influence decisions to use an OSS, and this will now be discussed in the context of this study.
Capital investments can include money spent on supporting the use of an OSS (Dedrick and West 2003; Dutta and Evrard 1999; Kumar and Krishnan 2005; Martin and Matlay 2001;
Robert et al. 2003; Saloheimo 2005). Thus, we argue that having capital investment, for the development of IT capacity by staff recruitment and training, and acquisition of relevant IT infrastructure, has a positive effect on the perceived control over the use the OSS. In this context, capital investment is essential for using OSS and, therefore, a lack of it has a negative effect on the perceived control over the use of OSS which could inhibit the use of OSS in the organisation. This argument leads to the proposition that:
Proposition 3b: Having relevant resource facilitating conditions has a positive influence, while the lack of them has a constraining influence on an SME's perceived control over the use of an OSS.
This proposition explains how having relevant resources influences control over the use of OSS in the organisation and, therefore, RFC will be used in identifying the resourcerelated organisational factors that influence an SME's control over the use of OSS.
K. Mijinyawa
Chapter 3: Conceptualisation of Open Source Software Adoption 65
The third control belief structure in Figure 3.1 is technology facilitating conditions (TFC) and is defined as technology compatibility issues that may facilitate or constrain the use of an OSS (Taylor and Todd 1995b), suggesting that the TFC represents the access to IT infrastructures to support the use of OSS (Venkatesh et al. 2003).
Access to IT infrastructure was discussed in the literature analysis (in section 2.2.3) in terms of the availability of adequate IT hardware and support services, such as computer systems, network hardware and maintenance, and Internet connection. Mehrtens et al. (2001) also reported that access to adequate computer systems can enable the trial, and eventual adoption of Internet technology.
Thus, we argue that having relevant technological infrastructure has a positive effect on the perceived control over the use of OSS and that, a lack of it has a negative effect. This argument leads to the proposition that:
Proposition 3c: Having relevant technology facilitating conditions has a positive influence, while the lack of these has a constraining influence, on an SME's perceived control over the use of an OSS.
This proposition allows us to explain the influence of having or lacking technological infrastructure on an SME's control over the use of an OSS and therefore TFC can be applied in identifying those organisational factors related to technology infrastructure that influence an SME's control over the use of OSS.
Taylor and Todd (1995b) suggest that a lack of the RFC or the TFC can be a barrier to the actual use of OSS. On the other hand, although having these facilitating conditions enhances perceived control over the use of OSS and contributes to the formation of intention to use OSS, they do not guarantee actual usage. Based on this discussion, we argue that a lack of any of the two facilitating conditions will inhibit the actual usage of OSS in the organisation.
This argument leads to the proposition that:
Proposition 4: Lack of facilitation conditions has an inhibiting influence on an SME's actual use of the OSS.
This proposition explains the effect of a lack of facilitating conditions on the actual usage of OSS in the organisation. It also shows that facilitating conditions are essential for actual usage of OSS and, therefore, represent critical failure factors in the adoption of OSS.
Chapter 3: Conceptualisation of Open Source Software Adoption 66