Why Governments Innovate: Adoption and Implementation of Open Source Software by Four European Cities

ABSTRACT

A growing number of governments will consider and even choose to migrate to an alternative operating system that uses Free/Open Source Software (FOSS). This research examines why governments choose to migrate and what factors affect implementation. Drawing on a comparative case study of four cities, I find that governments decide to migrate for a range of factors, but are driven more by democratic values such as independence and self-determination than by a desire to cut costs or save money. I also find that implementation is affected by a variety factors but in particular by information technology's place within a city's organizational structure.

Notes

Source: Author's own calculation

Source: Author's own calculations.

Kelman's (2006) empirical examination of the U.S. federal government's procurement reforms finds that while necessity may trigger change, some change effects brought about by necessity may be negated by employee resentment over a breach of trust or over employee concerns about downsizing.

Without sampling randomly, or based on variance on the independent variables, one can not confirm causal relationships between independent and dependent variables.

A server is simply a computer program that provides services to other computer programs. A server typically fulfills requests from other computer programs like printing a document or downloading a web page.

A terminal-server is a program that provides terminals (PCs, printers, and other devices) with a common connection point to a local or wide area network.

Munich has published a significant body of reports on every stage of the migration process. Much of this material is available in English [see http://www.muenchen.de/Rathaus/dir/limux/english/147197/index.html]. By far the best English-language summary of Munich's experience is Volker Grassmuck's contribution to the Social Science Research Council's Wiki titled, “Linux-Free-software in Munich” [http://www.ssrc.org/wiki/POSA/index.php?title=LiMux%E2%80%94Free_Software_for_Munich]. In addition, Wilhelm Hoegner, head of the city's IT department, has published an informative account of city's experience with FOSS in the volume Open Source 2006, edited by Bernd Lutterbeck and his colleagues. Munich has taken a proactive effort to understand the process of migration and to share its experiences with others.

Vienna has made all of its internal studies available online. For an account of the history and process of migration see [http://www.wien.gv.at/ma14/oss.html].

To address the strength of a particular motivation, I counted the number of times each reason was referenced in the interviews. This is clearly an imprecise measure and should be understood primarily as an estimate of the importance of a particular issue relative to alternative reasons.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Mark Cassell

Mark Cassell ([email protected]) is an associate professor of political science at Kent State University. He is the author of How Governments Privatize: The Politics of Divestment in the United States and Germany (Georgetown University Press, 2002) and the 2003 recipient of the Charles H. Levine Award for the best book in public policy and administration. His interest in public sector reform and government capacity has led to studies of the Federal Home Loan Bank System, tax expenditures, and e-government.