Exploring the Interplay Between FLOSS Adoption and Organizational Innovation

Growing research on Free/Libre Open Source Software (FLOSS) has addressed a variety of questions focusing on aspects ranging from open source development processes and developer motivation, to economic and policy-making implications. Nevertheless, a few authors have examined the adoption of FLOSS and its impact on organizational change and innovation. Adoption studies represent a particularly promising area for information system researchers to investigate the relationship between the specific properties of FLOSS and the processes of implementation and use. The goal of this article is to contribute to this field of research by discussing a former multi-targeted research agenda and by defining an empirically grounded framework for studying FLOSS adoption, drawing on the outcomes of an exploratory multiple case study involving sixteen Italian public administrations

Exploring the Interplay between Floss Adoption and Organisational Innovation

Growing research on Free/Libre Open Source Software (FLOSS) has addressed a variety of questions focussing on aspects ranging from open source development processes and developer motivation, to economic and policy-making implications. Nevertheless, a few authors have examined the adoption of FLOSS and its impact on organisational change and innovation. Adoption studies represent a particularly promising area for information system researchers to investigate the relationship between the specific properties of FLOSS and the processes of implementation and use. The goal of this paper is to contribute to this field of research by discussing a former multi-targeted research agenda and by defining an empirically grounded framework for studying FLOSS adoption, drawing on the outcomes of an exploratory multiple case study involving 16 Italian public administrations.Growing research on Free/Libre Open Source Software (FLOSS) has addressed a variety of questions focussing on aspects ranging from open source development processes and developer motivation, to economic and policy-making implications. Nevertheless, a few authors have examined the adoption of FLOSS and its impact on organisational change and innovation. Adoption studies represent a particularly promising area for information system researchers to investigate the relationship between the specific properties of FLOSS and the processes of implementation and use. The goal of this paper is to contribute to this field of research by discussing a former multi-targeted research agenda and by defining an empirically grounded framework for studying FLOSS adoption, drawing on the outcomes of an exploratory multiple case study involving 16 Italian public administrations.Articles published in or submitted to a Journal without IF refereed / of international relevanc

Designing, Producing and Using Artifacts in the Structuration of Firm Knowledge: Evidence from Proprietary and Open Processes of Software Development.

In the paper we study the recursive nature of artifacts in the production and the socialization of organizational knowledge. In this respect, artifacts are interpreted both as the product (output) of organizational knowledge processes and, at the same time, as tools easing the development of other artifacts. We compare different practices of knowledge creation and diffusion in complex software production processes with the aim of understanding the effects of interplay between (1) coordination and control practices, (2) mediating artifacts and development tools, and (3) interactions between different actors in the development process. We aim at identifying the peculiar traits emerging in contrasting development paradigms, namely the closed, fully proprietary one widespread in the gaming console industry, and the open model of free/open source software development.video/computer game industry; artifacts; free/open source software; video game console

Designing, Producing and Using Artifacts in the Structuration of Firm Knowledge: Evidence from Proprietary and Open Processes of Software Development.

In the paper we study the recursive nature of artifacts in the production and the socialization of organizational knowledge. In this respect, artifacts are interpreted both as the product (output) of organizational knowledge processes and, at the same time, as tools easing the development of other artifacts. We compare different practices of knowledge creation and diffusion in complex software production processes with the aim of understanding the effects of interplay between (1) coordination and control practices, (2) mediating artifacts and development tools, and (3) interactions between different actors in the development process. We aim at identifying the peculiar traits emerging in contrasting development paradigms, namely the closed, fully proprietary one widespread in the gaming console industry, and the open model of free/open source software developmentvideo/computer game industry; artifacts; free/open source software; video game consoles

Sustainability of Free/Libre Open Source Projects: A Longitudinal Study

This paper examines the factors that influence the long-term sustainability of FLOSS projects. A model of project sustainability based on organizational ecology is developed and tested empirically. Data about activity and contribution patterns over the course of five years for 2,772 projects registered with SourceForge is analyzed. Our results suggest that the size of the project’s development base, project age and the size of niche occupied by the project are positively related to the project’s ability to attract user and/or developer resources. The ability to attract resources is an indicator of the perceived project legitimacy, which in turn is a strong predictor of the project’s future sustainability. Thus a project’s ability to attract developer and user resources is shown to play a mediating role between the demographic (size and age) and ecological (niche) characteristics of the project and its future sustainability. Our results support the applicability of tenets of organizational ecology related to the liability of smallness, the liability of newness, and population characteristics (niche size) to the FLOSS development environment. The implications of the results for future research and practice are discussed

Decoding the "Free/Open Source(F/OSS) Software Puzzle" a survey of theoretical and empirical contributions

F/OSS software has been described by many as a puzzle. In the past five years, it has stimulated the curiosity of scholars in a variety of fields, including economics, law, psychology, anthropology and computer science, so that the number of contributions on the subject has increased exponentially. The purpose of this paper is to provide a sufficiently comprehensive account of these contributions in order to draw some general conclusions on the state of our understanding of the phenomenon and identify directions for future research. The exercise suggests that what is puzzling about F/OSS is not so much the fact that people freely contribute to a good they make available to all, but rather the complexity of its institutional structure and its ability to organizationally evolve over time.F/OSS software, Innovation, Incentives, Governance, Intellectual Property Rights

Advancing Economic Research on the Free and Open Source Software Mode of Production

Early contributions to the academic literature on free/libre and open source software (F/LOSS) movements have been directed primarily at identifying the motivations that account for the sustained and often intensive involvement of many people in this non-contractual and unremunerated productive activity. This issue has been particularly prominent in economists’ contributions to the literature, and it reflects a view that widespread voluntary participation in the creation of economically valuable goods that is to be distributed without charge constitutes a significant behavioral anomaly. Undoubtedly, the motivations of F/LOSS developers deserve to be studied more intensively, but not because their behaviors are unique, or historically unprecedented. In this essay we argue that other aspects of the “open source” phenomenon are just as intriguing, if not more so, and possibly are also more consequential topics for economic analysis. We describe the re-focusing and re-direction of empirical and theoretical research in an integrated international project (based at Stanford University/SIEPR) that aims at better understanding a set of less widely discussed topics: the modes of organization, governance and performance of F/LOSS development -- viewed as a collective distributed mode of production.. We discuss of the significance of tackling those questions in order to assess the potentialities of the “open source way of working” as a paradigm for a broader class of knowledge and information- goods production, and conclude with proposals for the trajectory of future research along that line.

Organisation designing though the practice of multi-method research in information systems

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The Allocation of Software Development Resources In ‘Open Source’ Production Mode

This paper aims to develop a stochastic simulation structure capable of describing the decentralized, micro-level decisions that allocate programming resources both within and among open source/free software (OS/FS) projects, and that thereby generate an array of OS/FS system products each of which possesses particular qualitative attributes. The core or behavioral kernel of simulation tool presented here represents the effects of the reputational reward structure of OS/FS communities (as characterized by Raymond 1998) to be the key mechanism governing the probabilistic allocation of agents’ individual contributions among the constituent components of an evolving software system. In this regard, our approach follows the institutional analysis approach associated with studies of academic researchers in “open science” communities. For the purposes of this first step, the focus of the analysis is confined to showing the ways in which the specific norms of the reward system and organizational rules can shape emergent properties of successive releases of code for a given project, such as its range of functions and reliability. The global performance of the OS/FS mode, in matching the functional and other characteristics of the variety of software systems that are produced with the needs of users in various sectors of the economy and polity, obviously, is a matter of considerable importance that will bear upon the long-term viability and growth of this mode of organizing production and distribution. Our larger objective, therefore, is to arrive at a parsimonious characterization of the workings of OS/FS communities engaged across a number of projects, and their collective productive performance in dimensions that are amenable to “social welfare” evaluation. Seeking that goal will pose further new and interesting problems for study, a number of which are identified in the essay’s conclusion. Yet, it is argued that that these too will be found to be tractable within the framework provided by refining and elaborating on the core (“proof of concept”) model that is presented in this paper.

The Professionalization of Hackers: A Content Analysis of 30 Years of Hacker Communication

Underground hacking has evolved from its early countercultural roots to become a complex and varied phenomenon. By combining a historical review of the literature with a content analysis of 30 years of underground hacker communication, we show that hacking has evolved in three waves to embrace learning and creativity, intrusion and crime, as well as politics and cyberwarfare. We uncover a paradoxical relationship between hackers and society at large where underground hacking is considered a digital crime while at the same time inspiring and driving corporate innovation, cybersecurity, and even cyberwarfare. The outcome of our research provides a nuanced picture of the hacker underground by highlighting differences between competing discursive themes across time. Moreover, by translating these themes into a set of six contrasting personas of IS professionals, we discuss how knowledge, technologies, and creative practices of underground hackers are being professionalized. We use this discussion to provide implications and a research agenda for IS studies in cybersecurity, innovation, and cyberwarfare