Introducing Open Source Reference Management Software to a Rural South African Campus: Evaluating the Effectiveness of Workshops at the University of the Free State’s Qwaqwa Campus

Despite the increased availability of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS), the adoption of such information technology remains poor in developing countries. Free reference management software such as Zotero can significantly improve academic workflow and thus its adoption by academics in peripheral nations could be a cost-effective method of supporting and boosting research output. Guided by the Technology Acceptance Model, we assessed the effectiveness of a workshop as intervention to introduce Zotero (a novel FOSS in this particular community) to staff members and students at a rural university campus in South Africa. A series of questionnaires assessed how this intervention affected attitude towards, and use of, Zotero. While participants had positive attitudes towards the software at the start of the intervention, the workshop improved the perceived usefulness and ease of use of FOSS. For all participants, the main predictor of eventual regular use was its perceived ease of use. This study suggests that brief training workshops could significantly improve usage of novel open-source software, even with a lack of prior exposure to similar technologies. For students, it becomes important to emphasise the usefulness of the software, while academic staff may benefit from an emphasis on hands-on technical training.