Why profit-oriented companies enter the OS field?: intrinsic vs. extrinsic incentives

This paper contributes to the literature on Open Source (OS) by providing empirical evidence on the incentives of firms that engage in the field. Data collected by a survey on 146 Italian companies supplying OS solutions (Open Source firms) show that (surprisingly) intrinsic, community-based incentives do play a role but are not, in general, put into practise. We investigate this discrepancy between attitudes and behaviours and single out groups of firms adopting a more consistent behaviour. Our results are in line with the literature on individual motivations in the OS movement.