| The extant literature examines individuals' and suppliers' perspectives of the value of open source software, not the value that enterprise users perceive of open source software. This research uses the results of nine interviews with managers to develop a model of enterprise users' value of open source, ten propositions anchored around this model, and five managerial guidelines. Results suggest that customers value their relationship with suppliers when the open source software product is less mature and the supplier can provide a reliable support model; customers perceive the reputation of the software and supplier as more important than the brand of the open source software; customers perceive open source switching costs to be high due to the size, complexity or dependencies of open source software; and customers value differentiating functionality and cost savings.+. |
