Volunteers' participation in open source software development
- 23 August 2010
- journal article
- Published by Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) in ACM SIGMIS Database: the DATABASE for Advances in Information Systems
- Vol. 41 (3), 69-84
- https://doi.org/10.1145/1851175.1851180
Abstract
Open source software comprises a revolutionary new model of software development and distribution. Widespread Internet access in the early 1990s led to a dramatic acceleration of open source activity; but the success of a community open source project depends on the developers' voluntary participation. This paper investigates the social-relational factors, including developers' identification and obligation, shared goals, cognitive and affective trust, and their effects on open source software developer's participation. Data were collected from voluntary developers in open source projects. The research findings show that the social-relational factors are very important to promote developer's participation in an open source project. This research contributes empirically to the body of open source software research, and has practical implications for open source software development.Keywords
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