The Influence of Network Governance Factors on Success in Open Source Software Development Projects

The phenomenon of open source software has lately caught the attention of both the popular press and many researchers in such diverse fields as MIS, computer science, sociology, and management. The organizational challenges faced by open source development projects are significant, because a project must deal with the complexity of coordinating the efforts of a geographically distributed base of volunteers to create a working software product. Based on a theoretical framework of network governance, the influence of social mechanisms on the coordination and safeguarding of exchanges among project members, and how these influence project success are examined. Using survey and objective data, 38 open source projects are empirically investigated to test a formal path model of network governance in open source projects. The model of network governance provides a good explanation of how governance mechanisms can influence success in open source projects, namely, restricted access to the development team improves coordination within the project and safeguards exchanges among project members. Further, collective sanctions safeguard exchanges among project members, and the importance of reputation to project members aids in managing conflicts within the project. Finally, better coordination allows a project to be more successful, while safeguarding exchanges does not appear to impact project success

Influence of Information and Communication Technology on Digital Divide

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is a wide term that refers to all computer-based advanced technologies for managing and communicating information. ICT is an umbrella term that includes any communication device or application including radio, television, cellular phones, computer and network hardware and software, and satellite systems, as well as the various services and applications associated with them, such as videoconferencing and distance learning. ICT is often considered to be a general purpose technology, much like steam and electricity in earlier eras that has broad economic impact through multiple applications. ICT is broader than Information Technology (IT) which is defined as 201C;the study, design, development, implementation, support or management of computer-based information systems, particularly software applications and computer hardware201D; (Information Technology Association of America, 2008)

Crowdsourcing Software Requirements and Development: A Mechanism-based Exploration of ‘Opensourcing’

Many commercial software firms rely on open source software (OSS) communities as a source of innovation and skilled labor. One specific form of interaction with OSS communities, termed ‘opensourcing’, involves firms collaborating with an OSS community by ‘crowdsourcing’ software production. However, beyond the existence of the phenomenon, little is known about how opensourcing, as a model of software production, works. The objective of this study is to explore opensourcing arrangements in a vertical software domain with a view to delineating enabling mechanisms that explain how firms can collaborate with communities to crowdsource the production of software. Using an in-depth case study of the production of hospital software in Thailand, this study explores how opensourcing is used to determine requirements, identify bugs, and provide user-to-user support in addition to the more traditional approach of crowdsourcing software code. The analysis reveals the operation of six high-level mechanisms (motivation, coordination, effective communication, filtering, integration, and nurturing) and reveals how they operate in conjunction with each other to facilitate opensourcing

Research Agenda for Studying Open Source II: View Through the Lens of Referent Discipline Theories

In a companion paper [Niederman et al., 2006] we presented a multi-level research agenda for studying information systems using open source software. This paper examines open source in terms of MIS and referent discipline theories that are the base needed for rigorous study of the research agenda

Open Source ERP In Organization: Research Agenda

Open Source Software (OSS) is a growing phenomenon, changing the way in which Information Systems (IS) are developed, distributed and implemented. The success of OSS in the worldwide market for operating systems, web servers, and other infrastructure software is substantial. However, it is still infrequent in ERP type application domains, which are said to be impossible to design from an OS angle. While a significant number of research investigate aspects of OS, few researches were dedicated to OS ERP. Based on a review of the academic and professional literature, this paper aims to improve our understanding of the current influence of OS ERP in organizations, to provide a new light on a previously developed topic and to challenge the conventional wisdom in our field which stipulates that there are some areas like ERP applications where OS could not be developed

Participation in Free and Open Source Communities: An Empirical Study of Community Members’ Perceptions

Although the defining factors of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) are generally seen as the availability and accessibility of the source code, it is what these facilitate that is perhaps of more significance. Source code availability allows the sharing of code, skills, knowledge, and effort, focused on a particular piece of software under development. The result of this is the FOSS community, which although often perceived as a single group, is actually many small groups, each bound by a common interest in a particular piece of software and using the Internet as a communication medium. Although there have been studies focusing on the motivation of FOSS developers to contribute to software, there has been little investigation into the motives, attitudes, and the culture within the communities as a whole. There is much more to most of these communities than software development. Many also have extensive support networks for the use of software, portals for research, and social facilities. This paper describes the results of an investigation into how FOSS community members perceive the communities that they belong to, their reasons for being in the community, and the manner in which they participate

Understanding Open Source Software: A Research Classification Framework

The success of open source applications such as Apache, Linux, and Sendmail spurred interest in this form of software, its development process, and its implication for the software industry. This interest is evident in the existing research being done to address various issues relevant to open source software and open source methodology. This paper proposes a research classification framework that: informs about the current state of open source software research, provides a formal structure to classify this research, and identifies future research opportunities

Influence of Information and Communication Technology on Digital Divide

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is a wide term that refers to all computer-based advanced technologies for managing and communicating information. ICT is an umbrella term that includes any communication device or application including radio, television, cellular phones, computer and network hardware and software, and satellite systems, as well as the various services and applications associated with them, such as videoconferencing and distance learning. ICT is often considered to be a general purpose technology, much like steam and electricity in earlier eras that has broad economic impact through multiple applications. ICT is broader than Information Technology (IT) which is defined as “the study, design, development, implementation, support or management of computer-based information systems, particularly software applications and computer hardware” (Information Technology Association of America, 2008)

THE ROLE OF OWNERSHIP AND SOCIAL IDENTITY IN PREDICTING DEVELOPER TURNOVER IN OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE PROJECTS

Open source software (OSS) development methodology that promises to produce reliable, flexible, and high quality software code, at minimal cost, by harnessing the power of distributed peer review and transparency of process and has become increasingly popular in the past few years. For-profit companies have increasingly adopted the OSS paradigm to produce quality software at low cost. A vast majority of OSS projects depend on voluntary contributions by developers to sustain their development. In this context, turnover of developers has been considered a critical issue hindering the success of projects. This dissertation develops two studies addressing the issue. The first study is a methodological pilot and lays the foundation of this research by focusing on modeling turnover behavior of core open source contributors using a logistic hierarchical linear modeling approach. It argues that argue that taking both the developer and the project level factors into account will lead to a richer understanding of the issue of turnover in open source projects. The second study provides a conceptual integration of developer and project level factors using the Ownership, Role theory and Social Identity literatures, and proposes testable hypotheses, methods and findings. The implications of this research are likely to benefit OSS managers in understanding the developer and project level factors associated with developer turnover and the contexts in which they interact

Governance of decentralized autonomous organizations that produce open source software

Decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) have found use in the governance of open source software (OSS) projects. However, the governance of an OSS producing DAO should match the particularities of OSS production while also overcoming the existing challenges of decentralized governance. The existing decentralized governance frameworks do not include all the governance activities of OSS projects. Therefore, this study presents a governance framework for DAOs that produce OSS. The framework is built upon a total of 34 articles on DAO and OSS governance. The framework was evaluated in three leading DAOs that produce OSS. The evaluation underscores the significance of the framework and proves the potential of the systematic categorization of governance mechanisms. Finally, we list emerging governance practices in various governance domains in this developing field