The governance of free/open source software projects: monolithic, multidimensional, or configurational?

Author: Markus, M.

Source: Journal of Management & Governance, Volume 11, Number 2, May 2007 , pp. 151-163(13)

Publisher: Springer

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Abstract:

This paper presents the results of a qualitative review and synthesis of the literature on open source governance, addressing four key questions: (1) How has open source software (OSS) governance been defined? (2) Has the phenomenon of OSS governance been conceptualized as a monolithic or multidimensional phenomenon? (3) What purposes is OSS governance hypothesized to serve? and (4) What are the dimensions of OSS governance, and how are these dimensions related to each other? The results of the review suggest a framework for future comparative and case study research on OSS governance, and they provide a basis for comparison with research on the governance of other distributed, community-based forms of content and creation.

Keywords: Collective action; Common pool resources/public goods; Coordination theory; Governance; Institutional theory; Motivation; Open source software

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10997-007-9021-x

Affiliations: 1: Email: mlmarkus@bentley.edu

Publication date: 2007-05-01