INSTITUTIONAL LOGICS, INDIE SOFTWARE DEVELOPERS AND PLATFORM GOVERNANCE

This two-essay dissertation aims to study institutional logics in the context of Apple's independent third-party software developers. In essay 1, I investigate the embedded agency aspect of the institutional logics theory. It builds on the premise that logics constrain preferences, interests and behaviors of individuals and organizations, thereby determining the appropriate and legitimate decisions and actions of actors. In the meantime, most social actors operate in fields characterized by multiple institutional logics where contradictions exist, allowing individuals and organizations with opportunities for negotiation and change through exploitation or management of these contradictions. I specifically study two competing institutional logics: professional and market logics when they are experienced simultaneously by independent iOS app entrepreneurs. Using participant observation and semi-structured interviews, I delineate the ways in which logic tension is reconciled through mechanisms of logic synthesis in three entrepreneurial areas - app ideation, app execution and app marketing, and conditions which facilitate or inhibit logic synthesis. In essay 2, I study the emergence and evolution of field-level logics in the context of Apple's desktop developers - Mac indies. Following the cultural emergence model of field-level logics in Thornton et al. (2012), and the argument that "field-level logics are both embedded in societal-level logics and subject to field-level processes that generate distinct forms of instantiation, variation, and combination of societal logics" (p148), I particularly examine the relationship between resource environment and the emergence and evolution of field-level logics. Taking advantage of a critical change in developers' resource environment - Apple's opening of the iOS App Store and subsequently the Mac App Store, and hence its governance model shifting from mainly a technological platform to a platform that includes a market exchange place, I identify developers' logics before and after the change, namely, the software ecosystem logic and platform ecosystem logic. Two ideal types are constructed for the logics along elemental categories, and a content analysis demonstrates the logic shift pattern as resource environments change. A further analysis of the two logics suggests that the software ecosystem logic and platform ecosystem logic are in contestation at this early stage of institutional change

Spin fluctuations and charge properties of core shell C80_{80}+M13_{13} (V, Mn, Cr, Ni, Co)

Transition metal clusters have a broad spectrum of potential applications in electronic and magnetic devices owing to their unique properties. Protective shells such as fullerene C$_{80}$ can be introduced to improve their stability. In this study, we optimized five core shell structures, C$_{80}$+M$_{13}$ (V, Mn, Cr, Ni, Co), and calculated their electromagnetic properties using density functional theory.We determined that there is electron transfer between C$_{80}$ and the transition metal clusters near the Fermi surface, and that the d orbitals contribute most to the magnetism of the structure. C$_{80}$+Ni$_{13}$ was antiferromagnetic. The magnetic properties of the clusters were significantly altered, revealing antiferromagnetism. The results establish a theoretical starting point for tuning the electronic and magnetic properties of 13-atom clusters embedded in fullerene cages

Synthesizing Professional and Market Logics: A Study of Independent iOS App Entrepreneurs

Professional logic and market logic are identified as two competing institutional logics and the dynamics between them are examined at societal and organizational levels. Under explored in the literatures are situations when the two logics are experienced simultaneously by one professional group or even one individual. This study intends to shed some light on the issue by studying logic synthesis practices of independent app entrepreneurs. The opening of and infrastructure support from mobile software platforms creates ample entrepreneurial opportunities for independent third-party developers. Meanwhile, it also exposes developers to the challenges of logic tensions. How developers synthesize logic tensions not only depends on their own experience, it is contingent on platform-level influence as well. Through a qualitative study of independent iOS app entrepreneurs, we juxtapose mobile software developers’ professional logic with the market logic, and explicate ways in which logic synthesis practices are performed in this context

Qualitative research : Extending the range with flexible pattern matching

The flexible pattern matching approach has witnessed increasing popularity. By combining deduction with induction in logic, flexible pattern matching is well suited for exploration and theory development. The paper discusses its logic, advantages and process of this approach while offering a review of research adopting this approach. We also compare and contrast it with another popular qualitative data analysis technique, the grounded theory approach, to further ground the method on the established knowledge and elaborate its strength and fitting context. This paper advances the flexible pattern matching approach by suggesting a five-step roadmap to conduct qualitative research with the approach

Changing with the time: New ventures’ quest for innovation

New ventures are often based on new ideas and innovation. For creating and improving the innovation new ventures can draw on internal and external resources, to which they often have limited access. Our study analyses how new ventures can improve their innovation search by entering collaborative workspaces, so-called co-working spaces. In our qualitative study, we use participative observation and analyze 8 cases of new ventures operating in a coworking-space. Key findings are that forms of innovation search differ with respect to the venture’s life cycle. The new ventures search focus alternates between internal and external search, depending on the current stage of the venture. In general, the co-location of ventures in collaborative workspaces offers rich opportunities for social interactions, information exchange, and collaboration which are especially important for early-stage ventures

Average Polarization of Electromagnetic Gaussian Schell-Model Beams through Anisotropic Non-Kolmogorov Turbulence

Polarization properties of electromagnetic Gaussian Schell-model beams propagating through the anisotropic non-Kolmogorov turbulence of marine-atmosphere channel are studied based on the cross-spectral density matrix. Detailed analysis shows that the average polarization decreases with increasing the spectral index, inner scale of turbulence and generalized refractive-index structure parameter. We find the effects of anisotropic turbulence on the average polarization is less than that of the isotropic turbulence and the depolarization effect of turbulence in marine-atmosphere is larger than terrene-atmosphere. The electromagnetic Gaussian Schell-model beam with the parameters of smaller σxx ,σyy and Ax, but larger Ay will reduce the interference of turbulence