Adoption of Open Source Software: The role of social identification

While the benefits of incorporating Open Source Software (OSS) into personal and organizational systems have been widely touted, OSS must be adopted and used by end users before these benefits can be realized. Drawing on research in information systems and sociology, this study develops and evaluates an integrated model for the acceptance of OSS. In addition to the traditional technology adoption variables the findings stress the importance of social identification as a key driver of OSS adoption. The proposed model provides a useful decision support tool for assessing and proactively designing interventions targeted at successful OSS adoption and diffusion.