Open-source software systems have become a viable alternative to proprietary systems. We collected data on the usage of an open-source workflow management system developed by a university research group, and examined this data with a focus on how three different user cohorts – students, academics and industry professionals – develop behavioral intentions to use the system. Building upon a framework of motivational components, we examined the group differences in extrinsic versus intrinsic motivations on continued usage intentions. Our study provides a detailed understanding of the use of open-source workflow management systems in different user communities. Moreover, it discusses implications for the provision of workflow management systems, the user-specific management of open-source systems and the development of services in the wider user community.
Over the last decade, the open source software (OSS) phenomenon has revolutionized the way in which organizations and individuals create, distribute, acquire and use information systems and services, making it an increasingly important topic for information systems researchers. Many aspects have been investigated in this vein of research, including participation in open-source development [29], business models [10], community ideology [34], motivation [6] and governance [33]. In this paper, we aim to contribute to this current and relevant body of knowledge by studying the behavioral factors that lead to individuals' acceptance of an open-source workflow management system. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that the acceptance of an open-source workflow management system is analyzed. Also, our study is the first that explicitly examines differences in acceptance behaviors across three different user cohorts.
Specifically, we consider the YAWL system [39] as an example of open-source workflow management system. Two reasons underpin this choice. First, the YAWL system represents a state-of-the-art open-source workflow management system that is developed based on a solid grounding in research. Also, not only has it enjoyed uptake in industry practice, but it has also generated a significant impact in academia [36]. Second, the system is supported by a wide and diversified user community that includes three distinct user cohorts: student users, academic users and professional users. This is because the YAWL system is an OSS system that aims to address three different purposes:
(i)
to serve as a platform upon which researchers can prototype cutting-edge workflow technology;
(ii)
to educate students on business process modeling and automation; and
(iii)
to generate industry uptake.
In this respect, the YAWL system shares some commonalities with the open-source operating system GNU/Linux (whose distributions are used both in educational institutions to teach software and operating systems as well as in commercial environments), but differs from the majority of other OSS products (e.g. Mozilla Firefox) that target general users and do not necessarily have an educational purpose.
In this paper, we seek to examine differences in the behavioral motivations to accept the YAWL system across its three different user cohorts. Knowing how different user cohorts perceive OSS software and how these perceptions affect their individual usage decisions is important because it helps managers in charge of software acquisitions to design more effective implementation strategies and offers guidance for personalized management interventions. This knowledge is also important for providers of OSS software solutions and related services for developing effective personalized marketing strategies. Further, the open-source workflow management system YAWL that we are examining is different from traditional information systems in that it explicitly caters to different user cohorts instead of being purpose-built for a particular cohort like many other systems (e.g., DSS for decision makers, EIS for executives, TPS for operational staff). Systems that are built for a variety of users face important challenges in acceptance and usage behaviors because different stakeholders typically have multiple and often conflicting objectives and priorities and rarely agree on a set of common aims [31] and [51]. Correspondingly, in our paper we set out to answer the following two research questions:
(1)
Which factors contribute to explaining individuals' acceptance of an open-source workflow management system?
(2)
How do these factors differ across three user cohorts of an open-source workflow management system, viz., student, academic and professional users?
We proceed as follows. First, we review the literature on determinants of the behavioral intentions to use open-source systems and introduce the specific research context of our study by providing relevant background to the YAWL initiative. Then, we describe our research model and develop a set of hypotheses about the expected differences across the three user cohorts considered. Next, we describe design and conduct of our empirical study to test the model and the hypotheses. We discuss the results and identify important implications for theory and practice before concluding the paper with a review of contributions and limitations.
In this paper, we examined a model of open-source workflow management system acceptance across three specific user cohorts, viz., academic users, practitioner users and student users. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time such a comparative study on open-source system acceptance is carried out over different user cohorts. Our findings attest to significant differences in the perceptions of motivations and behavioral control leading to the intentions to use the open-source system. Thereby, our research provides empirical evidence about behavioral differences among technology user cohorts and can be used to stimulate further theoretical work to circumscribe the characteristics, role and implications of user differences in technology use.
