scholarly journals Knowledge sharing in open source software communities: motivations and management

2015 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 791-813 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zilia Iskoujina ◽  
Joanne Roberts
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Sharing ◽  
Open Source ◽  
Open Source Software ◽  
Online Communities ◽  
Descriptive Analysis ◽  
Online Questionnaire ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Impact

Purpose – This paper aims to add to the understanding of knowledge sharing in online communities through an investigation of the relationship between individual participant’s motivations and management in open source software (OSS) communities. Drawing on a review of literature concerning knowledge sharing in organisations, the factors that motivate participants to share their knowledge in OSS communities, and the management of such communities, it is hypothesised that the quality of management influences the extent to which the motivations of members actually result in knowledge sharing. Design/methodology/approach – To test the hypothesis, quantitative data were collected through an online questionnaire survey of OSS web developers with the aim of gathering respondents’ opinions concerning knowledge sharing, motivations to share knowledge and satisfaction with the management of OSS projects. Factor analysis, descriptive analysis, correlation analysis and regression analysis were used to explore the survey data. Findings – The analysis of the data reveals that the individual participant’s satisfaction with the management of an OSS project is an important factor influencing the extent of their personal contribution to a community. Originality/value – Little attention has been devoted to understanding the impact of management in OSS communities. Focused on OSS developers specialising in web development, the findings of this paper offer an important original contribution to understanding the connections between individual members’ satisfaction with management and their motivations to contribute to an OSS project. The findings reveal that motivations to share knowledge in online communities are influenced by the quality of management. Consequently, the findings suggest that appropriate management can enhance knowledge sharing in OSS projects and online communities, and organisations more generally.

Participation in community-based free/libre open source software development tasks: the impact of task characteristics

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kangning Wei ◽  
Kevin Crowston ◽  
U. Yeliz Eseryel
Keyword(s):  
Open Source ◽  
Open Source Software ◽  
Empirical Support ◽  
Task Characteristics ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Individual Participation ◽  
And Task ◽  
Development Tasks

PurposeThis paper explores how task characteristics in terms of trigger type and task topic influence individual participation in community-based free/libre open source software (FLOSS) development by considering participation in individual tasks rather than entire projects.Design/methodology/approachA quantitative study was designed using choose tasks that were carried out via the email discourse on the developers' email fora in five FLOSS projects. Choice process episodes were selected as the unit of analysis and were coded for the task trigger and topic. The impact of these factors on participation (i.e. the numbers of participants and messages) was assessed by regression.FindingsThe results reveal differences in participation related to different task triggers and task topics. Further, the results suggest the mediating role of the number of participants in the relationships between task characteristics and the number of messages. The authors also speculate that project type serves as a boundary condition restricting the impacts of task characteristics on the number of participants and propose this relationship for future research.Research limitations/implicationsEmpirical support was provided to the important effects of different task characteristics on individual participation behaviors in FLOSS development tasks.Practical implicationsThe findings can help FLOSS participants understand participation patterns in different tasks and choose the types of tasks to attend to.Originality/valueThis research explores the impact of task characteristics on participation in FLOSS development at the task level, while prior research on participation in FLOSS development has focused mainly on factors at the individual and/or project levels.

Knowledge sharing and social capital in globally distributed execution

2016 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 327-343 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arjen van Dijk ◽  
Paul Hendriks ◽  
Ivan Romo-Leroux
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
Knowledge Sharing ◽  
Online Questionnaire ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Construction Company ◽  
Level Versus ◽  
Distributed Execution ◽  
Group Characteristics ◽  
Globally Distributed

Purpose The purpose of this study is to assess whether social capital explains level and quality of knowledge sharing in globally distributed execution. More specifically, the study examined how knowledge sharing in combined European–Asian teams of a globally operating engineering and construction company was affected by these teams’ social capital. Design/methodology/approach Social capital was approached via constructs covering its structural, relational and cognitive dimensions. Data for 325 employees were collected via an online questionnaire and analysed using multiple regression models. Findings The analyses confirm that components of social capital offer powerful explanations of both the level and the quality of knowledge sharing. The study also found many differences in how social capital affects the level versus the quality of knowledge sharing and also in how it works in the European versus the Asian situations. No social capital factor appeared to significantly predict both level and quality knowledge sharing in the European and Asian situations alike. Originality/value This study is novel in empirically establishing how knowledge sharing in globally distributed execution is affected by teams’ social capital as an integrative construct bringing together individual and group characteristics.

Examining organizations’ continued use of open source technologies

2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 24-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
Saggi Nevo ◽  
InduShobha Chengalur-Smith
Keyword(s):  
Open Source ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Business Value ◽  
Institutional Perspective ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Continued Use ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Value Of It ◽  
The Impact

Purpose Our knowledge of why organizations continue to use open source software (OSS) infrastructure technologies is relatively limited, and existing models appear inadequate to explain this continuance phenomenon given that they are set at the individual level and also do not take into account the unique characteristics of OSS. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach Using an institutional perspective, this paper posits that coercive (business value of IT) and normative (open source ideology (IDEO)) factors may be credited with sustaining the continued use of OSS technologies. The study argues that organizations that subscribe to IDEO are more likely to continue using OSS technologies. Survey data are collected from organizations that have implemented an OSS infrastructure technology and a moderated multiple regression analysis is performed to test the proposed hypotheses. Findings In addition to the business value provided by OSS technologies, adherence to IDEO also impacts decisions to continue using those technologies. The results suggest that once an OSS is implemented in an organization, IDEO can enhance organizations’ intentions to continue using such technologies, directly, as well as indirectly, by amplifying the impact of the perceived business value of the technology. Originality/value Much of extant literature on continued use focuses on end-user technologies. This paper is one of the first to focus on infrastructure technologies and examine organizations’ intentions to continue using those technologies by developing a parsimonious theory-driven model for examining organizations’ continued use intentions toward infrastructure IT. Additionally, much of open source research to date has been inwardly focused, and this paper is one of few empirical studies to focus on the demand or consumption side of OSS technologies.

Exploring the impact of short-text complexity and structure on its quality in social media

2020 ◽  
Vol 33 (6) ◽  
pp. 1443-1466 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jamal Al Qundus ◽  
Adrian Paschke ◽  
Shivam Gupta ◽  
Ahmad M. Alzouby ◽  
Malik Yousef
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Online Communities ◽  
External Source ◽  
Trust Model ◽  
Original Text ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Short Text ◽  
Text Quality ◽  
The Impact

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore to which extent the quality of social media short text without extensions can be investigated and what are the predictors, if any, of such short text that lead to trust its content.Design/methodology/approachThe paper applies a trust model to classify data collections based on metadata into four classes: Very Trusted, Trusted, Untrusted and Very Untrusted. These data are collected from the online communities, Genius and Stack Overflow. In order to evaluate short texts in terms of its trust levels, the authors have conducted two investigations: (1) A natural language processing (NLP) approach to extract relevant features (i.e. Part-of-Speech and various readability indexes). The authors report relatively good performance of the NLP study. (2) A machine learning technique in more precise, a random forest (RF) classifierusing bag-of-words model (BoW).FindingsThe investigation of the RF classifier using BoW shows promising intermediate results (on average 62% accuracy of both online communities) in short-text quality identification that leads to trust.Practical implicationsAs social media becomes an increasingly new and attractive source of information, which is mostly provided in the form of short texts, businesses (e.g. in search engines for smart data) can filter content without having to apply complex approaches and continue to deal with information that is considered more trustworthy.Originality/valueShort-text classifications with regard to a criterion (e.g. quality, readability) are usually extended by an external source or its metadata. This enhancement either changes the original text if it is an additional text from an external source, or it requires text metadata that is not always available. To this end, the originality of this study faces the challenge of investigating the quality of short text (i.e. social media text) without having to extend or modify it using external sources. This modification alters the text and distorts the results of the investigation.

Influence of knowledge sharing, innovation passion and absorptive capacity on innovation behaviour in China

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Pinghao Ye ◽  
Liqiong Liu ◽  
Joseph Tan
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Sharing ◽  
Social Exchange ◽  
Absorptive Capacity ◽  
Risk Taking ◽  
Social Exchange Theory ◽  
Theoretical Perspective ◽  
Exchange Theory ◽  
Online Questionnaire ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Impact

PurposeThis paper aims to address the question of what can significantly impact employees' IB and how employees' IB may be effectively stimulated by investigating key factors such as employees' knowledge sharing, innovation passion, absorptive capacity and risk-taking behaviour on workplace innovation. The moderating role of risk-taking behaviour on the link between absorptive capacity and innovation behaviour is also investigated.Design/methodology/approachBased on the principles of social exchange theory, the study design explores the complex relationship among knowledge sharing, innovation passion, absorptive capacity and risk-taking vis-à-vis employees' innovation behaviour within a unified analysis framework. Methodologically, employees in the information technology industry in China were surveyed via a questionnaire instrument, with a total of 318 valid questionnaires being collected online. Following a reliability and validity test of the questionnaire, the Smart PLS was used to verify the research model.FindingsStatistically significant results reported were as follows: (1) employees' innovation behaviour is positively impacted by knowledge sharing, innovation passion and absorptive capacity; (2) employees' innovation behaviour is negatively impacted by risk-taking behaviour; (3) knowledge sharing is positively impacted by innovation passion; (4) absorptive capacity is positively impacted by innovation passion; and (5) risk-taking behaviour regulates the relationship between absorptive capacity and innovation behaviour.Research limitations/implicationsOwing to limited research resources, 318 front-line employees were surveyed via an online questionnaire vis-à-vis the sampling method only, specifically taking knowledge sharing, innovation passion, absorptive capacity and risk-taking behaviour as antecedent variables with implications on how employees' innovation behaviour may be stimulated.Originality/valueThe mechanism of augmenting employees' innovation behaviour is chiefly explained from the perspective of innovation passion and risk-taking behaviour, which are conducive towards promoting employees' willingness to improve knowledge sharing and innovation behaviour. The social exchange theory is used as a basis to form an integrated model for the research, contributing to a cumulative theoretical perspective for future work on the impact of innovation passion and risk-taking behaviour on innovation.

Teaching statistics in the context of social foresight. An applied approach based on the use of an open-source software

2015 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 140-148
Author(s):  
Diego Giuliani ◽  
Maria Michela Dickson ◽  
Giuseppe Espa
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Open Source ◽  
Open Source Software ◽  
Quantitative Methods ◽  
Descriptive Analysis ◽  
Real Data ◽  
Introductory Statistics ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Social ◽  
Teaching Statistics

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present the contents and the didactic approach that characterize, respectively, the “Introductory Statistics with R” and “Statistics and Foresight” courses of the Master in Social Foresight. Design/methodology/approach – The two courses “Introductory Statistics with R” and “Statistics and Foresight” are designed to provide an introduction to quantitative methods in the social sciences with specific applications to social foresight. In particular, the first course introduces students to data analysis providing the necessary tools to study and represent socio-economic phenomena through graphical summaries and numerical measures. During the course, example applications based on the use of the open-source software R are shown. At the end, the students should be able to perform data management, conduct descriptive analysis of categorical and quantitative variables and analyze bivariate distributions. The subsequent course “Statistics and Foresight” presents the most efficient methods to make decisions in a context of uncertainty while visualizing the potential errors of wrong decisions and computing the probability of their occurrence. Findings – This paper is a description of an interesting and promising way of teaching applied statistics in social sciences. Practical implications – With the main aim of learning the correct use of statistics, specific attention is devoted to the use and interpretation of the aforementioned methods rather than to their theoretical aspects. Even in the second course, an important role is played by the treatment of real data by the use of the R software. Originality/value – This paper attempts to systematize a method of teaching statistics based on the practical use of open-source software.

scholarly journals An Alternative Way to Make Knowledge Sharing Work in Online Communities? The Effects of Hidden Knowledge Facilitators

2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 781-825
Author(s):  
Jason Li-Ying ◽  
Zhinan Zhang ◽  
Qing Long
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Sharing ◽  
Online Communities ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Online Interventions ◽  
Log Data ◽  
Chinese Context ◽  
Hidden Knowledge ◽  
The Impact ◽  
A Company

ABSTRACTSome firms use hidden knowledge facilitators (HKFs) to facilitate knowledge sharing among employees within intrafirm online communities. These firms hope for enhanced knowledge sharing outcomes within their organizations without letting employees know that HKFs exist. Yet, the extent to which HKFs’ interventions are effective remains unknown to researchers and managers. Built on the knowledge sharing (KS) literature, this study explores the unique roles of HKFs as moderators between a company and its employees. We develop several hypotheses to test the impact of the quantity and quality of HKFs’ online interventions on several KS outcomes. By analyzing log data of a Chinese corporation's online R&D community, we find that (1) thequantityof HKFs’ intervention has a mostly positive impact on KS outcomes; (2) thequalityof HKFs’ intervention has a mixed impact on several KS outcomes, depending on which aspect of quantity is considered; and (3) thequalityof HKFs’ intervention also moderates the positive impact of thequantityof HKFs’ intervention in different ways on different intended KS outcomes. This study makes a clear contribution to the literature on knowledge sharing and knowledge facilitation by demonstrating the impact of HKFs on KS outcomes in a Chinese context.

Developer Centrality and the Impact of Value Congruence and Incongruence on Commitment and Code Contribution Activity in Open Source Software Communities

MIS Quarterly ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 951-976
Author(s):  
Likoebe M. Maruping ◽  
◽  
Sherae L. Daniel ◽  
Marcelo Cataldo ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Open Source ◽  
Open Source Software ◽  
Value Congruence ◽  
The Impact

scholarly journals Exploring the impact of pharmacist comprehensive annual care plans on perceived quality of chronic illness care by patients in Alberta, Canada

2021 ◽  
pp. 171516352110203
Author(s):  
Candace Necyk ◽  
Jeffrey A. Johnson ◽  
Ross T. Tsuyuki ◽  
Dean T. Eurich
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Care ◽  
Chronic Illness ◽  
Care Plan ◽  
Short Version ◽  
Chronic Illness Care ◽  
Online Questionnaire ◽  
Care Plans ◽  
Funding Program ◽  
The Impact

Background: In 2012, the Government of Alberta introduced a funding program to remunerate pharmacists to develop a comprehensive annual care plan (CACP) for patients with complex needs. The objective of this study is to explore patients’ perceptions of the care they received through the pharmacist CACP program in Alberta. Methods: We invited 3442 patients who received a pharmacist-billed CACP within the previous 3 months and 6888 matched controls across Alberta to complete an online questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted of the short version Patient Assessment of Chronic Illness Care (PACIC-11), with 3 additional pharmacy-specific assessment questions added. Additional questions related to health status and demographics were also included. Results: Overall, most patients indicated a low level of chronic illness care by pharmacists, with few differences noted between CACP patients and non-CACP controls. Of note, controls reported higher quality of care for 5 domains within the adapted PACIC-like tool compared with CACP patients ( p < 0.05 for all). Interestingly, only 79 (44%) of CACP patients reported that they had received a CACP, whereas only 192 (66%) of control patients reported that they did not receive a care plan. In a sensitivity analysis including only these respondents, individuals who received a CACP perceived a significantly higher quality of chronic illness care across all PACIC domains. Conclusion: Overall, chronic illness care incentivized by the pharmacist CACP program in Alberta is perceived to be moderate to low. When limited to respondents who explicitly recognized receiving the service or not, the perceptions of quality of care were more positive. This suggests that better implementation of CACP by pharmacists may be associated with improved quality of care and that some redesign is needed to engage patients more. Can Pharm J (Ott) 2021;154:xx-xx.

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