A Theoretical Research Framework of Open Source Software Adoption in Malaysian University Information and Communications Technology Centers

Open Source Software (OSS) has been an effective replacement for proprietary software in many domains and especially the public ones. The Advantage of OSS led governments around the world to adopt this software and promote aggressively to their public agencies. However, many of the initiatives have failed to adopt the OSS within their organizations. As a consequence of this, it is important to look further from the literature to understand the factors that influence the OSS adoption success in the public sector. Based on a review of more than 100 articles, the study aims to fill the gap by clearing the facts about the current state of OSS adoption in Malaysia and to address the factors that may influence or hinder the OSS adoption. The paper concludes with two issues that need to be clarified before the proposed theoretical framework of the study can be further explored and developed 1) to identify the factors that may influence the OSS adoption decision and process in both the management level and the user levelin Malaysian University Information and Communications Technology Centers (ICTCs); 2) by finding a new perspective to investigate the determinants to the OSS adoption.