Success factors of open-source enterprise information systems development

摘要

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to identify the success factors of open-source software in the enterprise level. It expands the application of the information systems (IS) success model in the literature to enterprise information systems (EIS). The paper presents a simplified open-source EIS success model by removing several constructs in the existing open-source software models. Design/methodology/approach - To test the research model, a survey questionnaire was developed based on previous studies dealing with IS success models and adapting them to the open-source EIS context. The research instrument contained 30 items that represent seven constructs in the research model. Data were collected from 250 open-source enterprise software end-users. Due to its confirmatory nature, this study applied the structural equation model. Findings - The results of the study indicate that only community service quality has a positive direct effect on open-source EIS use, while information quality, EIS quality, and user satisfaction do not. Open-source EIS quality has a direct positive effect on user satisfaction, which in turn has a positive effect on individual net benefits, which also positively affects organizational net benefits. Research limitations/implications - This study focused on the open-source EIS users' perspective. Future studies could expand the scope by covering a broader open-source EIS aspect such as motivation of its use, development processes, social dynamics in the development group, diffusion process, and the like. A longitudinal study could provide a more concrete trend of open-source EIS use by organizations. The small sample size of this study is also a limitation. Practical implications - The present research provides a practical evidence of relationships in the open-source EIS application model. The developers in on-line open-source communities need to take the success factors identified in this study into account when developing open-source EIS. Originality/value - There is a paucity of empirical studies in open-source EIS applications. The paper expends the traditional IS success model to the open-source EIS context by collecting and analyzing data from 150 real-world open-source EIS users.