Cataldo, Marcelo

Daniel, Sherae L.

Herbsleb, Jim

Maruping, Likoebe M.

LSE Research Online

Can	your	organisation	benefit	from	embracing	theopen	source	way?A	recent	Forbes	article	indicates	that	corporate	engagement	with	open	source	communities	has	grown	to	become	astrategic	imperative	over	the	past	couple	of	decades.	An	increasing	number	of	companies	are	paying	theiremployees	to	contribute	to	such	communities.	This	is	one	manifestation	of	a	broader	growing	trend	toward	closercollaboration	between	companies	and	open	source	communities.	Well-recognised	companies	such	as	Google,	Uber,Facebook,	and	Twitter	have	open	sourced	their	projects	and	encouraged	their	employees	to	contribute	to	opensource	communities.	Among	software	developers	who	contribute	to	such	communities,	estimates	suggest	that	up	to40%	of	them	are	paid	by	their	company	to	do	so.	Some	companies	see	this	as	an	opportunity	to	enhance	theiremployees’	skills	while	others	aim	to	influence	open	source	product	development	to	support	their	owncomplementary	products	and	services.	Regardless	of	the	motives,	managers	should	consider	the	impact	of	sucharrangements	on	the	employees	involved.Traditionally	the	open	source	movement	has	been	characterised	by	a	strong	ideology	based	on	helpfulness,	opensharing	of	knowledge,	reputation-building	through	high-quality	contributions,	and	credit	for	individual	contributors.Moreover,	a	distinguishing	aspect	of	open	source	is	its	emphasis	on	requiring	source	code	to	be	freely	available	andopen	to	modification	by	anyone.	Such	values	and	norms	are	not	typical	of	most	corporate	environments,	making	foran	interesting	opportunity	to	observe	whether	companies	can	make	such	arrangements	work.	Our	research	teamwas	particularly	interested	in	understanding	whether	there	are	any	benefits	or	pitfalls	to	companies	embracing	asimilar	ideology	when	assigning	employees	to	open	source	communities.To	probe	these	considerations,	we	conducted	a	study	of	186	employees	of	companies	who	contribute	to	one	opensource	community.	Our	study	evaluated	how	strongly	employees	embraced	the	ideology	that	characterises	the	opensource	movement.	We	also	evaluated	how	strongly	employees	believed	the	co-workers	in	their	company	embracethe	ideology.	We	then	observed	the	code	contributions	of	these	employees	to	the	open	source	development	projectover	a	nine-month	period.Is	there	a	benefit	to	embracing	the	open	source	way?LSE Business Review: Can your organisation benefit from embracing the open source way? Page 1 of 3		Date originally posted: 2018-09-26Permalink: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/businessreview/2018/09/26/can-your-organisation-benefit-from-embracing-the-open-source-way/Blog homepage: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/businessreview/The	short	answer	is	yes.	Employees	reported	feeling	more	committed	to	their	company	and	made	more	codecontributions	to	the	open	source	development	project	when	they	felt	their	company	environment	strongly	embracedthe	open	source	ideology—even	if	they	themselves	did	not.	They	also	felt	more	committed	and	made	more	codecontributions	when	their	company	assigned	them	to	an	open	source	community	that	embraced	the	ideology	to	thesame	degree	as	they	themselves	did.	This	hits	a	trifecta	for	companies	that	embrace	the	open	source	way.	First,employees	are	more	committed	to	the	company,	which	is	highly	desirable	for	the	retention	of	software	talent	in	a	tightlabour	market.	Second,	by	making	code	contributions	to	an	open	source	development	project,	employees	are	able	toenhance	and	expand	their	skillset.	This	strengthens	the	company’s	intellectual	capital.	Finally,	the	code	contributionshelp	advance	the	company’s	strategic	objectives	for	collaborating	with	the	community.What	are	the	implications	for	companies	and	open	source	communities?Not	surprisingly,	we	found	that	employees	were	generally	more	committed	to	their	company	and	to	the	open	sourcecommunity	when	they	felt	that	they	embraced	the	ideology	to	the	same	degree	as	those	around	them.	What	wasmore	interesting	was	the	observation	of	what	happens	when	there	is	a	mismatch	in	how	much	the	company	or	theopen	source	community	embrace	the	ideology	relative	to	the	employee.	The	news	is	universally	negative	for	opensource	communities.	Employees	felt	less	committed	to	the	open	source	community	when	they	felt	that	those	in	thecommunity	did	not	embrace	the	open	source	ideology	to	the	same	degree	that	they	themselves	did.	Similarly,employees	felt	less	committed	to	the	open	source	community	when	they	felt	the	community	embraced	the	ideologytoo	much	relative	to	what	they	were	comfortable	with.	In	both	instances	the	research	found	that	these	less	committedemployees	made	far	fewer	code	contributions	to	the	open	source	community,	thus	failing	to	advance	their	company’sinterests.The	findings	were	more	encouraging	for	companies—particularly	those	that	are	bold	in	creating	an	environment	thatembraces	the	ideology.	As	already	noted,	employees	in	such	companies	reported	greater	commitment	and	mademore	code	contributions.	In	contrast,	employees	who	strongly	embraced	this	ideology	but	felt	their	company	did	notsupport	it	exhibited	lower	company	commitment	and	made	fewer	community	code	contributions.What	does	embracing	the	open	source	way	do	for	employees?So	why	does	the	open	source	way	engender	such	goodwill	among	employees?	Social	psychologists	believe	thatpeople	are	intrinsically	motivated	by	work	environments	that	support	three	basic	human	psychological	needs:autonomy,	relatedness,	and	competence.	The	open	source	way	affords	employees	the	autonomy	to	decide	whatcode	to	work	on	and	when	to	do	so.	Open	source	is	inherently	a	social	coding	process,	connecting	employees	with	abroad	array	of	developers	within	and	outside	of	the	company.	It	enables	them	to	feel	socially	connected.	Finally,	thewidely	observable	recognition	that	employees	receive	for	their	code	contributions—through	named	credit—fosters	asense	of	accomplishment	and	competence.	It	offers	a	lasting	digital	imprint	of	their	technical	competence	that	can	beshared	with	others.What	is	the	takeaway?The	findings	suggest	that	engaging	employees	in	open	source	communities	has	ramifications	for	the	company	itself.Reaping	the	benefits	requires	companies	to	provide	a	value	system	supportive	of	the	open	source	ideology.	In	fact,the	companies	that	are	most	successful	at	attracting	software	development	talent	(e.g.,	Google,	Facebook)	alreadyembrace	this	ideology	as	part	of	their	corporate	culture.	Employees	at	these	companies	are	afforded	a	fair	degree	ofautonomy	in	their	work,	feel	a	sense	of	relatedness	with	their	co-workers,	and	receive	frequent	feedback	andrecognition	regarding	their	competence	in	their	technical	work.	At	least	on	this	front,	there	is	a	clear	benefit	toembracing	the	open	source	way	to	conduct	work.Companies	that	wish	to	employ	developers	who	contribute	to	open	source	communities	have	a	few	decisions	tomake.	They	must	decide	which	developers	will	make	contributions.	They	also	must	decide	how	they	portraythemselves	with	respect	to	open	source	communities.	Given	these	findings,	it	seems	it	is	in	the	best	interest	of	thecompany	to	present	itself	as	embracing	the	open	source	ideology.	This	could	be	done	through	emails	advertising	thefinancial	support	of	open	source	communities.	Alternatively,	they	could	become	platinum	sponsors	of	well-knownopen	source	conferences	such	as	ApacheCon	and	LinuxCon.♣♣♣LSE Business Review: Can your organisation benefit from embracing the open source way? Page 2 of 3		Date originally posted: 2018-09-26Permalink: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/businessreview/2018/09/26/can-your-organisation-benefit-from-embracing-the-open-source-way/Blog homepage: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/businessreview/Notes:This	blog	post	is	based	on	the	authors’	paper	The	Impact	of	Ideology	Misfit	on	Open	Source	SoftwareCommunities	and	Companies,	MIS	Quarterly.The	post	gives	the	views	of	its	author(s),	not	the	position	of	the	institutions	they	represent,	the	LSE	BusinessReview	or	the	London	School	of	Economics.Featured	image	credit:	Photo	by	Free-Photos,	under	a	CC0	licenceWhen	you	leave	a	comment,	you’re	agreeing	to	our	Comment	Policy.Sherae	L.	Daniel	is	an	assistant	professor	of	operations,	business	analytics	and	information	systemsin	the	Carl	H.	Lindner	College	of	Business	at	the	University	of	Cincinnati.	Sherae’s	research	seeks	toreveal	how	to	best	manage	collaboration	challenges	in	nontraditional	work	environments.Likoebe	M.	Maruping	is	associate	professor	of	computer	information	systems	and	amember	of	the	Center	for	Process	Innovation	(CEPRIN)	in	the	J.	Mack	RobinsonCollege	of	Business	at	Georgia	State	University.	His	research	is	primarily	focused	oncollaboration	and	innovation	in	small-	and	large-scale	collectives.Marcelo	Cataldo	is	currently	an	engineering	manager	at	Uber	AdvancedTechnology	Group.	His	research	interests	include	geographicallydistributed	software	development	with	a	special	focus	on	the	relationshipbetween	the	software	architecture	and	the	organizational	structure	inlarge-scale	software	development	projects.Jim	Herbsleb	is	a	professor	in	the	Institute	for	SoftwareResearch	in	the	School	of	Computer	Science	at	CarnegieMellon	University,	where	he	serves	as	director	of	the	PhDprogram	in	societal	computing.		His	research	interests	lieprimarily	in	the	intersection	of	software	engineering,computer-supported	cooperative	work,	and	socio-technicalsystems.LSE Business Review: Can your organisation benefit from embracing the open source way? Page 3 of 3		Date originally posted: 2018-09-26Permalink: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/businessreview/2018/09/26/can-your-organisation-benefit-from-embracing-the-open-source-way/Blog homepage: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/businessreview/

Can your organisation benefit from embracing the open source way?

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Can your organisation benefit from embracing the open source way?

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