A Campus Technology Choice Model with Incorporated Network Effects: Choosing Between General Use and Campus Systems

This paper explores the choices campuses make between providing support for campus-specific (oftenproprietary) solutions, and utilizing and supporting generalpurpose (often open) solutions. We present a model of technology choice that includes network effects and focuses on a faculty member’s choice between campus-specific and general-purpose technologies. A theoretical model presents key findings, which are demonstrated mathematically and illustrated with a numerical simulation. As the size of the software user-networks increases, it is shown that faculty members naturally gravitate toward general-purpose solutions and it becomes increasingly costly for campuses to support and promote campus-specific systems. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications of network effects for campus technology policymakers.