The moderating role of development stage in free/open source software project performance

The main thesis developed and tested in this article is that development stage plays an important moderating role in determining both objective and subjective performance outcomes in free/open source software (F/OSS) projects. This contention is supported by an empirical study of 67 F/OSS projects, with results indicating that subjective performance assessments are calibrated to different objective performance indicators across early and later development stages. The role of team climate variables (trust and shared ideology) in determining both objective and subjective performance also varies across stages. The findings have implications for improving software development processes through appropriate human resource management interventions over the course of F/OSS software projects. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

[1]  J. Herbsleb,et al.  Two case studies of open source software development: Apache and Mozilla , 2002, TSEM.

[2]  Mark Keil,et al.  The challenge of accurate software project status reporting: a two-stage model incorporating status errors and reporting bias , 2002, IEEE Trans. Engineering Management.

[3]  Sirkka L. Jarvenpaa,et al.  Communication and Trust in Global Virtual Teams , 1999 .

[4]  Georg von Krogh,et al.  Open Source Software and the "Private-Collective" Innovation Model: Issues for Organization Science , 2003, Organ. Sci..

[5]  M. Arthur,et al.  The Motivational Effects of Charismatic Leadership: A Self-Concept Based Theory , 1993 .

[6]  Donald L. Ferrin,et al.  Special Issue: Trust in an Organizational Context: The Use of Rewards to Increase and Decrease Trust: Mediating Processes and Differential Effects , 2003, Organ. Sci..

[7]  John C. Turner,et al.  Rediscovering the Social Group , 1987 .

[8]  Bill Curtis,et al.  The People Capability Maturity Model , 2001 .

[9]  M. Hogg,et al.  Prototypical similarity, self-categorization, and depersonalized attraction: a perspective on group cohesiveness , 1995 .

[10]  Russell L. Purvis,et al.  Controlling Information Systems Development Projects: The View from the Client , 2002, Manag. Sci..

[11]  Pasi Vakaslahti.  Process improvement frameworks – a small case study with People Capability Maturity Model , 1997 .

[12]  Sajda Qureshi,et al.  Adaptiveness in Virtual Teams: Organisational Challenges and Research Directions , 2001 .

[13]  Lucy Gilson,et al.  Virtual Teams: What Do We Know and Where Do We Go From Here? , 2004 .

[14]  Sendil K. Ethiraj,et al.  Where Do Capabilities Come from and How Do They Matter? A Study in the Software Services Industry , 2005 .

[15]  David Bretthauer,et al.  Open Source Software: A History , 2001 .

[16]  Elena Karahanna,et al.  Time Flies When You're Having Fun: Cognitive Absorption and Beliefs About Information Technology Usage , 2000, MIS Q..

[17]  B. Weiner.  An attributional theory of motivation and emotion , 1986 .

[18]  J. W. Hutchinson,et al.  Unobserved Heterogeneity as an Alternative Explanation for 'Reversal' Effects in Behavioral Research , 2000 .

[19]  Wynne W. Chin,et al.  A Partial Least Squares Latent Variable Modeling Approach for Measuring Interaction Effects: Results from a Monte Carlo Simulation Study and an Electronic - Mail Emotion/Adoption Study , 2003, Inf. Syst. Res..

[20]  Walt Scacchi,et al.  Understanding the requirements for developing open source software systems , 2002, IEE Proc. Softw..

[21]  C. Fornell,et al.  Evaluating structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error. , 1981 .

[22]  Joey F. George,et al.  Modern Systems Analysis and Design , 1996 .

[23]  G. Gigerenzer,et al.  Probabilistic mental models: a Brunswikian theory of confidence. , 1991, Psychological review.

[24]  S. Gosain.  Looking through a Window on Open Source Culture: Lessons for Community Infrastructure Design , 2003 .

[25]  C. Gersick.  Time and Transition in Work Teams: Toward a New Model of Group Development , 1988 .

[26]  D. Bar-Tal.  Shared Beliefs in a Society: Social Psychological Analysis , 2000 .

[27]  M. Korsgaard,et al.  Trust in the face of conflict: the role of managerial trustworthy behavior and organizational context. , 2002, The Journal of applied psychology.

[28]  Alexander Hars,et al.  Working for Free? Motivations for Participating in Open-Source Projects , 2002, Int. J. Electron. Commer..

[29]  Lyle Brenner,et al.  A random support model of the calibration of subjective probabilities , 2003 .

[30]  Michael W. Godfrey,et al.  Evolution in open source software: a case study , 2000, Proceedings 2000 International Conference on Software Maintenance.

[31]  Roy T. Fielding,et al.  Economic Incentives for Participating in Open Source Software Projects , 2002, ICIS.

[32]  Darren Dalcher,et al.  Introduction to issue 8: 3: software process improvement is alive and well , 2003, Softw. Process. Improv. Pract..

[33]  Araújo,et al.  An Evolutionary theory of economic change , 1983 .

[34]  Josh Lerner,et al.  The Simple Economics of Open Source , 2000 .

[35]  Katherine J. Stewart,et al.  The Impact of Ideology on Effectiveness in Open Source Software Development Teams , 2006, MIS Q..

[36]  Seungjin Whang.  Market Provision of Custom Software: Learning Effects and Low Balling , 1995 .

[37]  Daniel J. McAllister.  Affect- and Cognition-Based Trust as Foundations for Interpersonal Cooperation in Organizations , 1995 .

[38]  Felix C. Brodbeck,et al.  Goal orientation of team leaders: Its effects on performance and group interaction in software development projects , 1994 .

[39]  Magnus Bergquist,et al.  The power of gifts: organizing social relationships in open source communities , 2001, Inf. Syst. J..

[40]  Suprateek Sarker,et al.  Using an adapted grounded theory approach for inductive theory building about virtual team development , 2000, DATB.

[41]  Ronald E. Rice,et al.  Technology Adaptation: The Case of a Computer-Supported Inter-Organizational Virtual Team , 2000, MIS Q..

[42]  C. Cramton.  Attribution in distributed work groups. , 2002 .

[43]  Fan Zhang,et al.  Optimal Transfer Trees and Distinguishing Trees for Testing Observable Nondeterministic Finite-State Machines , 2003, IEEE Trans. Software Eng..

[44]  Walt Scacchi,et al.  Free software developers as an occupational community: resolving conflicts and fostering collaboration , 2003, GROUP.

[45]  Dustin K. Jundt,et al.  Teams in organizations: from input-process-output models to IMOI models. , 2005, Annual review of psychology.

[46]  Richard L. Daft,et al.  System Influence on Organizational Decision Making: The Case of Resource Allocation , 1978 .

[47]  J. Dutton,et al.  The Cultures of Work Organizations. , 1992 .

[48]  Ronald E. Rice,et al.  Technology adaption: the case of a computer-supported inter-organizational virtual team 1 , 2000 .

[49]  J. W. Hutchinson,et al.  Knowledge Calibration: What Consumers Know and What They Think They Know , 2000 .

[50]  S. Winter,et al.  An evolutionary theory of economic change , 1983 .

[51]  Norman L. Chervany,et al.  What Trust Means in E-Commerce Customer Relationships: An Interdisciplinary Conceptual Typology , 2001, Int. J. Electron. Commer..

[52]  Audris Mockus,et al.  An Empirical Study of Speed and Communication in Globally Distributed Software Development , 2003, IEEE Trans. Software Eng..

[53]  E. E. Jones.  Attribution: Perceiving the Causes of Behavior , 1987 .

[54]  SarkerSuprateek,et al.  Using an adapted grounded theory approach for inductive theory building about virtual team development , 2000 .

[55]  L. Ross.  The Intuitive Psychologist And His Shortcomings: Distortions in the Attribution Process1 , 1977 .

[56]  M. Björkman.  Internal Cue Theory: Calibration and Resolution of Confidence in General Knowledge , 1994 .

[57]  E. E. Jones,et al.  The actor and the observer: Divergent perceptions of the causes of behavior. , 1972 .

[58]  James L. McKenney,et al.  Social Context and Interaction in Ongoing Computer-Supported Management Groups , 1995 .