Selecting component sourcing options: A survey of software engineering’s broader make-or-buy decisions

•We contribute empirical evidence to how organizations select component sourcing options (CSO) in industry practice, i.e., an analysis based on 188 survey responses.•Most organizations consider multiple CSOs during software evolution.•CSO decisions in industry are dominated by expert judgment, but they are still influenced by data.•When choosing between candidate components, functional suitability acts as an initial filter, then reliability is the most important software quality.