A Conjoint Approach to Understanding Software as a Service (SaaS) Adoption Decisions: A Replication Study

The decision to source services from cloud computing vendors is becoming increasingly complex. Over time, more IT products, processes, data, information, and security have been offered ‘as a service.’ The present study replicates one by Schwarz et al. (2009) examining the first instance of cloud computing, the Application Service Provider (or ASP), but includes decision-making about Software as a Service (SaaS) to determine whether the drivers of ASP adoption parallel those of SaaS. The findings suggest that despite the similarity in theoretical lenses, there is a shift in resource heterogeneity from one study to the next, specifically how the application differentiates the firm.