IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hal/journl/hal-02153061.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Network tie structure causing OSS group innovation and growth

Author

Listed:
  • Stefan Behfar

    (BETA - Bureau d'Économie Théorique et Appliquée - INRA - Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique - UNISTRA - Université de Strasbourg - UL - Université de Lorraine - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

  • Ekaterina Turkina

    (HEC Montréal - HEC Montréal)

  • Thierry Burger-Helmchen

    (BETA - Bureau d'Économie Théorique et Appliquée - INRA - Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique - UNISTRA - Université de Strasbourg - UL - Université de Lorraine - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

Abstract

Open source software (OSS) development as an inexpensive process to develop software threatens proprietary software business strategies. Providing business strategy to benefit from volunteer developers for the purpose of contributing to existing projects, as well as initiating new OSS projects is of utmost significance for companies in that industry. Therefore, it is important to figure out how groups of volunteer developers are formed as new developers join existing projects, and it is even more important to investigate what causes these developers to initiate new projects. The authors investigate network structure as a causal factor for both new project initiation within a group (representing group innovation) as well as new developers joining existing projects within a group (representing group growth). The authors develop four hypotheses:1. Intra-group coupling has a positive impact on group growth,2. Inter-group coupling has a positive impact on group innovation,3. Inter-group structural hole has a positive impact on group innovation,4. There is a trade-off between the effects of inter-group structural hole and inter-group coupling on group innovation.The authors test these four hypotheses using data from OSS. Developers contributing to project tasks in groups other than their own can explore novel ideas for new project creation, because they can benefit from sharing knowledge, whereas developers contributing to project tasks inside their own group exploit ideas to improve those existing projects with better inside-group search possibility; and this demands more developers to join those group projects.

Suggested Citation

  • Stefan Behfar & Ekaterina Turkina & Thierry Burger-Helmchen, 2017. "Network tie structure causing OSS group innovation and growth," Post-Print hal-02153061, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-02153061
    DOI: 10.21511/ppm.15(1).2017.01
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-02153061
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://hal.science/hal-02153061/document
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.21511/ppm.15(1).2017.01?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jackson, Matthew O. & Wolinsky, Asher, 1996. "A Strategic Model of Social and Economic Networks," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 71(1), pages 44-74, October.
    2. Gordon Walker & Bruce Kogut & Weijian Shan, 1997. "Social Capital, Structural Holes and the Formation of an Industry Network," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 8(2), pages 109-125, April.
    3. Jungpil Hahn & Jae Yun Moon & Chen Zhang, 2008. "Emergence of New Project Teams from Open Source Software Developer Networks: Impact of Prior Collaboration Ties," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 19(3), pages 369-391, September.
    4. Gabriele Tedeschi & Stefania Vitali & Mauro Gallegati, 2014. "The dynamic of innovation networks: a switching model on technological change," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 24(4), pages 817-834, September.
    5. Wenpin Tsai, 2000. "Social capital, strategic relatedness and the formation of intraorganizational linkages," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(9), pages 925-939, September.
    6. Bruce Kogut, 2000. "The network as knowledge: generative rules and the emergence of structure," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(3), pages 405-425, March.
    7. Rajdeep Grewal & Gary L. Lilien & Girish Mallapragada, 2006. "Location, Location, Location: How Network Embeddedness Affects Project Success in Open Source Systems," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 52(7), pages 1043-1056, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Behfar, Stefan Kambiz & Turkina, Ekaterina & Burger-Helmchen, Thierry, 2018. "Knowledge management in OSS communities: Relationship between dense and sparse network structures," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 167-174.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Behfar, Stefan Kambiz & Turkina, Ekaterina & Burger-Helmchen, Thierry, 2018. "Knowledge management in OSS communities: Relationship between dense and sparse network structures," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 167-174.
    2. Milanov, Hana & Fernhaber, Stephanie A., 2009. "The impact of early imprinting on the evolution of new venture networks," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 46-61, January.
    3. Gay, Brigitte, 2008. "Firm dynamic governance of global innovation by means of flexible networks of connections," MPRA Paper 12525, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Gay, Brigitte & Dousset, Bernard, 2005. "Innovation and network structural dynamics: Study of the alliance network of a major sector of the biotechnology industry," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(10), pages 1457-1475, December.
    5. Xuan Yang & Xiao Li & Daning Hu & Harry Jiannan Wang, 2021. "Differential impacts of social influence on initial and sustained participation in open source software projects," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 72(9), pages 1133-1147, September.
    6. Zhiang (John) Lin & James A. Kitts & Haibin Yang & J. Richard Harrison, 2008. "Elucidating strategic network dynamics through computational modeling," Computational and Mathematical Organization Theory, Springer, vol. 14(3), pages 175-208, September.
    7. Tobias Buchman & Andreas Pyka, 2012. "Innovation Networks," Chapters, in: Michael Dietrich & Jackie Krafft (ed.), Handbook on the Economics and Theory of the Firm, chapter 33, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    8. Mauro Napoletano & Stefano Battiston & Michael D König & Frank Schweitzer, 2008. "The efficiency and evolution of R&D Networks," Working Papers hal-01066189, HAL.
    9. Wonsang Ryu & Thomas H. Brush & Joonhyung Bae, 2023. "How agglomeration affects alliance governance and innovation performance: The role of cluster size," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 44(1), pages 297-310, January.
    10. Haider, Sajjad & Mariotti, Francesca, 2016. "The orchestration of alliance portfolios: The role of alliance portfolio capability," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 127-141.
    11. Wen Wen & Chris Forman & Stuart J. H. Graham, 2013. "Research Note ---The Impact of Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement on Open Source Software Project Success," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 24(4), pages 1131-1146, December.
    12. Chen, Xiaomeng & Forman, Christopher & Kummer, Michael E., 2021. "Chat more and contribute better: An empirical study of a knowledge-sharing community," ZEW Discussion Papers 21-061, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    13. Walter, Jorge & Lechner, Christoph & Kellermanns, Franz W., 2007. "Knowledge transfer between and within alliance partners: Private versus collective benefits of social capital," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 60(7), pages 698-710, July.
    14. John Seely Brown & Paul Duguid, 2001. "Knowledge and Organization: A Social-Practice Perspective," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 12(2), pages 198-213, April.
    15. Birgit Leick & Susanne Gretzinger, 2018. "Brokerage and governance for business networks: a metasynthesis-based discussion," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 22(4), pages 773-804, December.
    16. repec:hal:wpspec:info:hdl:2441/9935 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. repec:spo:wpecon:info:hdl:2441/9935 is not listed on IDEAS
    18. Wei-ping Wu & Alicia Leung, 2005. "Does a Micro-Macro Link Exist Between Managerial Value of Reciprocity, Social Capital and Firm Performance? The Case of SMEs in China," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 22(4), pages 445-463, December.
    19. Arun Sundararajan & Foster Provost & Gal Oestreicher-Singer & Sinan Aral, 2013. "Research Commentary ---Information in Digital, Economic, and Social Networks," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 24(4), pages 883-905, December.
    20. Casanueva, Cristóbal & Gallego, Ángeles & Sancho, María, 2013. "Network resources and social capital in airline alliance portfolios," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 441-453.
    21. Yuqing Ren & Jilin Chen & John Riedl, 2016. "The Impact and Evolution of Group Diversity in Online Open Collaboration," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 62(6), pages 1668-1686, June.
    22. Bajeux-Besnainou, Isabelle & Joshi, Sumit & Vonortas, Nicholas, 2010. "Uncertainty, networks and real options," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 75(3), pages 523-541, September.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-02153061. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: CCSD (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.