This chapter has presented a critical literature analysis of diverse issues relevant to the adoption of OSS by SMEs. In doing so, background knowledge of issues that can influence the adoption of OSS by SMEs was gained. This provided an initial scope of issues relevant to the research objective to explore and understand factors that influence the and option of OSS by SMEs.
In this literature analysis, knowledge of factors from studies on SMEs' adoption of ICT and adoption of OSS were augmented. This has enabled us to identify factors within the context of ICT adoption by SMEs, but which appear to be relevant to the adoption of OSS. The factors were categorised according to technological, organisational and environmental contexts. The factors and their categories were used in developing an analytical framework of OSS adoption by SMEs in Figure 2.1. This was used as an analytical tool for discussions on features of OSS adoption by SMEs.
The analysis of factors, their contexts and the analytical framework suggests that complexity, subjectivity, and the interrelationships between the factors are important features of OSS adoption by SMEs. The relevance of these features were discussed as the diversity, variations, and crossinfluences of factors that influence the adoption of OSS by SMEs. However, the limitations of the framework in terms of the scope of exploration and understanding of the three features, suggests that there is potential for a greater scope of understanding beyond.
In order to enhance our scope of exploration and understanding of OSS adoption by SMEs, it is argued that mature and proven theories on ICT adoption can be applied. This approach will provide an opportunity to use a suitable and proven theory that can enable better exploration and understanding of OSS adoption by SMEs. This approach also paves the way to the next chapter, where knowledge gained in this chapter will be applied in evaluating and selecting a suitable theory for better exploring and understanding OSS adoption by SMEs.
3
Conceptualisation of Open Source Software Adoption
3.1 Introduction
This chapter leads to the development of a research conceptual model. The need to develop a conceptual model stems from the limitations of the literaturebased framework (see Figure 2.1 and section 2.5) for exploring and explaining the adoption of OSS. Thus, the conceptual model will represent the theoretical framework that will be applied better to explore factors and explain their influence on the adoption of OSS in this research study.
For this study, the Decomposed Theory of Planned Behaviour (DTPB) is chosen as the theoretical foundation that will be applied in developing the conceptual model. The justification for the choice of the DTPB will be discussed in an evaluation of ICT adoption models and theories. The discussion will show that the exploratory and explanatory capabilities were used as the key criteria for the comparison of ICT adoption models and theories which led to the selection of the DTPB. The discussion will also show that the factors identified in the literature analysis (see sections 2.2, 2.3 and 2.4) are used as contexts for the capabilities of the models and theories that will be evaluated.
Having justified the selection of the DTPB in this study, operationalisation of the DTPB for exploring OSS adoption in this study will then be discussed. The operationalisation will develop theoretical concepts and research propositions that form the conceptual model for this research study. The operationalisation will show that factors identified in the literature
K. Mijinyawa 48
Chapter 3: Conceptualisation of Open Source Software Adoption 49
analysis (see sections 2.2, 2.3 and 2.4) are again used to provide contexts for defining the theoretical constructs of the DTPB.
The aim of this chapter described above, leads to two key objectives: (1) to justify the selection of the DTPB as the most suitable ICT adoption theory to support the exploration and explanation of OSS adoption, and (2) to operationalise the DTPB for explotring factors and explaining their influence on the adoption of OSS The first objective will be covered in section 3.2 and the second objective will be covered in sections 3.3 and 3.4. These sections will now be introduced in greater detail.
Section 3.2 will present a justification for the choice of the Decomposed Theory of Planned Behaviour (DTPB) as the underlying theory that will be used in developing the research conceptual model. This section will argue for the validated exploratory and explanatory capabilities of the DTPB as the main criteria for its selection over other ICT adoption models and theories. In particular, the features of the DTPB that will enable the exploration of factors and an explanation of their influence on OSS adoption will be discussed.
In section 3.3, the discussion will focus on the operationalisation of the DTPB which leads to the development of research propositions and an emergent research conceptual model. For this operationalisation, two issues are considered. First, the DTPB constructs will be defined within the context of OSS adoption. The definitions will determine and distinguish the exploratory function of each theoretical construct. Doing so will establish the construct validity of each construct that will be featured in the conceptual model. The factors identified in the literature analysis (see sections 2.2, 2.3 and 2.4) will provide the contexts for defining the constructs that will be applied in developing the conceptual model.
Second, the nomological networks which represent the relationships between a theoretical construct and other constructs within the DTPB, will be used in developing research propositions. Thus, the research propositions will explain why factors influence the adoption process. The nomological networks also establish the construct validity in the research propositions and the conceptual model as a whole. This is important and shows a validity in the relationships between the theoretical constructs in the research propositions and the conceptual model as a whole.
In section 3.4, there will be two strands of discussion about the emergent conceptual model.
First, the conceptual model will be presented as the theoretical framework that will be
Chapter 3: Conceptualisation of Open Source Software Adoption 50
applied in exploring factors and explaining their influence on the adoption of OSS. Second, the exploratory and explanatory capability of the emergent conceptual model will be discussed. This discussion will focus on the ability of the conceptual model to provide an
Jones and Hubona 2005; Gefen and Keil 1998; Horton et al. 2001; Madden et al. 1992;
Mathieson et al. 2001; Ndubisi and Jantan 2003). Following in the path of such studies, we seek to identify and apply a model/theory, suitable for developing a reliable theoretical framework, which will enhance the reliability of the empirical research design and the validity of the research findings. For this reason, a variety of adoption models and theories will now be examined.
Table 3.1 An Evaluation of Proven Adoption Model/Theories
Model/Theory Determinants of Intention Scope of Decomposition
DTPB
Attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavioural control
TPB
(Ajzen 1985; Ajzen 1991) Attitude Subjective norms
Perceived behavioural control
N/A
TAM (Davis 1989) Attitude N/A N/A Attitude
TRA
(Fishbein and Ajzen 1975) Attitude Subjective
norms N/A N/A
As shown in Table 3.1, the models and theories being reviewed in this section include: the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) (Davis 1989; Venkatesh and Davis 2000); the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) (Albarracin et al. 2001; Fishbein and Ajzen 1975); the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) (Ajzen 1985; Ajzen 1991); and the Decomposed Theory of Planned Behaviour (DTPB) (Liker and Sindi 1997; Shih and Fang 2004; Taylor and Todd 1995a;
1995b). Studies of these models and theories suggests that the adoption of an innovation can be modelled based on a beliefsintentionbehaviour structure (see, for example, BurtonJones K. Mijinyawa