Open Source Software Production, Spontaneous Input, and Organizational Learning

Abstract

This work shows that the modular organization of voluntary Open Source Software (OSS) production, whereby programmers supply effort of their accord, capitalizes more on division than on specialization of labor. This is so because voluntary OSS production is characterized by an organizational learning process that dominates the individual one. Organizational learning reveals production choices that would otherwise remain unknown, thereby increasing productivity and indirectly reinforcing incentives to undertake collective problem solving.Division of Labor; Mistake-ridden Learning; Modularity; Open Source Software; Self-selection; Voluntary Production