Do female employees at small and medium enterprises perceive open source software usefulness and satisfaction differently from male employees? A survey analysis

Abstract

Many companies, particularly small and medium enterprises (SMEs), use open source software (OSS) to promote the strategic application of their information technology assets. Several studies have claimed that male and female employees in SMEs differ in their use of various information technologies. This study investigates the factors influencing the perceived usefulness of and satisfaction with OSS among employees at SMEs in various industries, specifically comparing male and female employee perceptions. For this purpose, this study uses a proposed research model to examine the effects of quality factors-such as ease of maintenance, cost advantage, customization, and job relevance-on perceived usefulness of and satisfaction with OSS. Data were collected from 328 randomly selected survey responses of employees in various organizations using OSS. A structural equational model was created using AMOS 22.0 to test the proposed hypotheses in the research model. Results show that all OSS quality factors were significantly related to the perceived usefulness of OSS in both genders, positively affecting satisfaction. Moreover, the perceptions of male and female employees differed in relation to each research model variable. These findings suggest that employees value specific OSS qualities while perceiving its usefulness and their satisfaction.