Communal resources in open source software development

Introduction: Virtual communities play an important role in innovation. The paper focuses on the particular form of collective action in virtual communities underlying as Open Source software development projects. Method: Building on resource mobilization theory and private-collective innovation, we propose a theory of collective action in innovative virtual communities. We identify three communal resources (reputation, control over technology and learning opportunities) that appear as a byproduct while developing open source software. Analysis:Constructs are derived from exiting literature. Empirical data from Freenet, an open source software project for peer-to-peer software, illustrates both the levels of involvement and the communal resources. Results & conclusions: Communal resources are able to solve the collective action dilemma for virtual communities. We show that they increase in value for individuals along with their involvement in the community

A Dynamic Knowledge Management Framework for the High Value Manufacturing Industry

Dynamic Knowledge Management (KM) is a combination of cultural and technological factors, including the cultural factors of people and their motivations, technological factors of content and infrastructure and, where these both come together, interface factors. In this paper a Dynamic KM framework is described in the context of employees being motivated to create profit for their company through product development in high value manufacturing. It is reported how the framework was discussed during a meeting of the collaborating company’s (BAE Systems) project stakeholders. Participants agreed the framework would have most benefit at the start of the product lifecycle before key decisions were made. The framework has been designed to support organisational learning and to reward employees that improve the position of the company in the market place

Knowledge and enterprises in developing countries: evidences from Chile

ABSTRACT: Knowledge management is a fundamental tool in order to obtain competitive advantages in organizations. In this paper, we present an interesting study about how enterprises in a developing country like Chile manage their knowledge by using variables linked with three interesting concepts related to knowledge: innovation, learning, and knowledge sharing. From this information, six clusters of enterprises and two special cases with different behaviors in knowledge management and different results are identified. From this information, some conclusions are extracted: (1) clusters 4 and 5 are the best in knowledge management (best results) and, thus, other enterprises should replicate their behaviors; (2) the Government of Chile should promote more knowledge management in order to improve the country’s performance; (3) chemical industry is highlighted like one of the most important one related to knowledge; and finally, (4) enterprises with a high investment in knowledge are also enterprises with high results. These results are very interesting in order to understand the knowledge activity in a developing country like Chile.The authors thank to Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (project ECO2010-15455) for partial support of this work

Leadership and trust: Their effect on knowledge sharing and team performance

Team leaders who facilitate knowledge sharing and engender trust contribute to team effectiveness. While the separate effects of leadership, trust and knowledge sharing on team performance are well documented, few scholars have investigated the specific links between these factors. This study examines the relationship between the leader as the knowledge builder, trust in the leader and in the team, knowledge sharing and team performance. Surveys were collected from 34 engineering project teams (n=166 team members, 30 team leaders) and 18 managers in a large automotive organization. The results indicate that by building the team's expertise, leaders enhance team members' willingness to rely on and disclose information in the team, which in turn increases team knowledge sharing. Team knowledge sharing significantly predicted leaders' and managers' ratings of team performance. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed