Exploring Organizational Information Sharing in Adopters and Non-Adopters of Open Source Software: Evidence from Six Case Studies

Open source software is becoming increasingly popular in organizational environments. While prior research has explored the communal nature of open source software development among individual users, little research has explored whether these sharing concepts are also present in organizational use of open source software products. This study uses a theory integration approach to develop some initial insight into the differences between users and non-users of open source software. This study observed three groups of factors from six case studies of information sharing in the context of organizational open source software use. These factors were integrated with prior research in order to understand the physical and managerial barriers to, and enablers of, open source. The study proposes that open source users have more extensive knowledge sharing and teamwork practices in place, and are more tolerant of risk. The study also argues that open source users depended less on external technology support services but have more extensive information technology (IT) support structures.