Organizational adoption of open systems: a ‘technology-push, need-pull’ perspective

The growing popularity of open systems in organizational computing has made it important to understand the key determinants of open-systems adoption. Existing innovation diffusion theories, however, have been criticized for their inability to provide an adequate explanation for diffusion of complex organizational technology. This study used the ‘technology-push’ (TP) and ‘need-pull’ (NP) concepts, borrowed from the engineering/R&D management literature to examine the key factors in the adoption decision. Based on this theory, a research model was developed and tested by collecting data from senior IT executives in 89 organizations. The results generally offered support for the model and for the usefulness of applying the TP-NP theory to explain the adoption decision. Organization size had the largest impact on the decision. Migration costs was the next greatest influence. We also found that the organization would be less likely to adopt the new technology, unless the existing systems appeared to be unsatisfactory.