| dc.description.abstract | Information Communication Technology has come a long way and is still being adopted
hugely as a way of improving organizations in output as well as improving the quality in
organizations. Open source software (aSS) over time has emerged as an alternative to
commercial and closed-source in many spheres of influence of software usage. ass has
gained and is still gaining substantial attention across the world and more so in the third
world economies. Nevertheless, how and why ass is being adopted and implemented within
organizations in Kenya in particular is not a well understood or a well documented issue. This
research attempts to advance this understanding so that organizations may make better
informed decisions about adoption of information technology and open source software in
future.
A qualitative grounded theory approach is used in order to explore the extent of open source
software adoption by organizations in Kenya as well as the factors facilitating and inhibiting
adoption. Surveys and interviews are used to acquire the extent of usage of open source
software by organizations in Kenya. First, a survey was used to explore and distinguish the
types of open source software products adopted by organizations and the level to which they
have been adopted. Following the survey, semi-structured interviews were conducted with
organizations information communication technology managers in the organizations in order
to attain a deeper understanding of the factors that are assisting or restraining the adoption
and usage of open source software by organizations in the country.
The findings on extend of adoption of open source software showed 60% adoption and 40%
non adoption rate. The results showed that that organizations tend to adopt general purpose
more than domain specific open source software. Results also show that companies prefer
open source software over closed source software due to control over the software and cost as
opposed to benefit factors. Open source and closed source software are at same level of
preference in terms of scalability, reliability, security features, functionality, and integration
of systems. Closed source is preferred over open source software due to quality of support
from vendors, ease of use and fashion trends. A framework describing the adoption of ass in
organizations, based upon these findings is presented to illustrate the factors facilitating and
inhibiting the adoption of ass. | en |
