Measuring open source software success

Sang-Yong Tom Lee, Hee-Woong Kim and Sumeet Gupta

Omega, 2009, vol. 37, issue 2, 426-438

Abstract: Since the mid-1990s, there has been a surge of interest among academics and practitioners in open source software (OSS). While there is an abundance of literature on OSS, most studies on OSS success are either qualitative or exploratory in nature. To identify the factors that influence OSS success and establish generalizability, an empirical study measuring OSS success would enable OSS developers and users to improve OSS usage. In this study, we develop an OSS success model from a previous Information Systems success model incorporating the characteristics of OSS. Using the proposed model, we identify five determinants for OSS success as well as a number of significant relationships among these determinants. Our findings demonstrate that software quality and community service quality have significant effects on user satisfaction. Software quality and user satisfaction, in turn, have significant effects on OSS use. Additionally, OSS use and user satisfaction have significant effects on individual net benefits. This research contributes towards advancing theoretical understanding of OSS success as well as offering OSS practitioners for enhancing OSS success.

Keywords: Open; source; software; Software; success; model; Linux (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (15)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305-0483(07)00089-8
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jomega:v:37:y:2009:i:2:p:426-438

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/supportfaq.cws_home/regional
https://shop.elsevie ... _01_ooc_1&version=01

Access Statistics for this article

Omega is currently edited by B. Lev

More articles in Omega from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().