KIT Career ServiceStudentsTheses

Who Decides? Decision Pathways for Open-Source in German Municipalities

Research topic/area
IT Governance in Public Administration; Digital Sovereignty
Type of thesis
Bachelor / Master
Start time
-
Application deadline
31.01.2027
Duration of the thesis
-

Description

Description
Open-source software shared by other public bodies is free to use. But before a municipality reuses it, someone has to decide, and who that is may not be obvious.
German administrations are encouraged to reuse shared software, partly to depend less on single vendors. Yet access to the code is only one step: someone also has to fund, run and maintain the software. Even for a platform used by more than 190 municipalities, views differed on who was responsible for maintaining it (Persson & Linåker, 2025). Whether reuse actually strengthens a municipality's independence therefore depends partly on who makes the decision.

The starting question is: Who decides whether a German municipality reuses open-source software shared by other public bodies?

Such decisions may involve IT staff, administrative leaders, the municipal council and IT service providers. A central angle is the difference between who is formally responsible and who actually decides (Weill & Ross, 2004). You might, for example, talk to an IT lead, a department head and a council member about the same decision and compare their views.

Potential subtasks
  • Review research on IT governance, decision rights and open-source adoption in public administration.
  • Identify suitable cases, which may include successful reuse or attempts that were considered but rejected or postponed.
  • Collect and analyse data through interviews and relevant documents.
  • Reconstruct how decisions were made and compare this with who is formally responsible, for example under municipal rules or contracts.

The precise research question, case selection and methods will be developed by the student in discussion with the supervisor, taking access to suitable cases into account.

Disclaimer

The thesis is meant to teach you the scientific approach. Please keep that in mind. We expect you to learn and use scientific methods and to submit a scientifically sound result. Our role is to provide you with everything you need to succeed at that. We expect that you create a piece of work, in which you demonstrate a sound data collection method, an extensive dataset and your analysis of that dataset. A motivated student who works consistently on the thesis throughout the designated period can expect a very good grade. Details on the process and the format that we use to support you in succeeding with your thesis can be found here: https://wi2.win.kit.edu/197.php

References
  • Persson, P., & Linåker, J. (2025). Soft-lockins in public sector acquisitions of open source software-solutions: A case study on a municipal e-service platform. Proceedings of the 58th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences. https://doi.org/10.24251/HICSS.2025.238
  • Sambamurthy, V., & Zmud, R. W. (1999). Arrangements for information technology governance: A theory of multiple contingencies. MIS Quarterly, 23(2), 261–290.
  • Shaikh, M. (2016). Negotiating open source software adoption in the UK public sector. Government Information Quarterly, 33(1), 115–132. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.giq.2015.11.001
  • van Loon, A., & Toshkov, D. (2015). Adopting open source software in public administration: The importance of boundary spanners and political commitment. Government Information Quarterly, 32(2), 207–215. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.giq.2015.01.004
  • Weill, P., & Ross, J. W. (2004). IT governance: How top performers manage IT decision rights for superior results. Harvard Business School Press.
  • Winkler, T. J., & Brown, C. V. (2013). Horizontal allocation of decision rights for on-premise applications and software-as-a-service. Journal of Management Information Systems, 30(3), 13–48. https://doi.org/10.2753/MIS0742-1222300302


Requirement

Requirements for students
  • - Solid understanding of or at least interest in qualitative research methods, especially interviews and document analysis.
  • - Willingness to familiarize yourself with literature on IT governance, decision rights and open-source adoption in the public sector.
  • - Communication skills for contacting public administrations and conducting interviews with IT staff, administrative leaders and council members.
  • - Fluent German, as interviews and documents are in German. The thesis will be written in English.

Faculty departments
  • Economic & law sciences
    Information Engineering


Supervision

Title, first name, last name
Paulina Kowalska
Organizational unit
WIN - ESIS
Email address
paulina.kowalska@kit.edu
Link to personal homepage/personal page
Website

Application via email

Application documents
  • Cover letter
  • Curriculum vitae
  • Grade transcript

E-Mail Address for application
Senden Sie die oben genannten Bewerbungsunterlagen bitte per Mail an paulina.kowalska@kit.edu


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