Examining success factors of open source software repositories: The case of OSOR.eu portal

Abstract

The OSOR.eu portal is an open platform for sharing e-government initiative news, ideas, and solutions among public administrations of the European Union. This study examines the success factors of open-source software repositories by applying the updated information systems success model to the OSOR.eu portal. One hundred and seventeen users of the OSOR.eu portal participated in the survey and partial least squares were employed to analyse the data. The results indicate that information quality is the strongest factor to affect the net benefits of OSOR.eu. Service quality has a significant role in the success of the open-source software repository. This study also shows that organisation type and job relevance are moderators for the success of the OSOR.eu portal. This study has implications for how governments can improve the development of public services using open-source software repositories. Limitations and future research directions are discussed as well as concluding remarks. © 2013 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.