IT-Enabled Knowledge Creation for Open Innovation

Open innovation is increasingly important for researchers and practitioners alike. Open innovation is closely linked to knowledge creation in that, with open innovation, knowledge inflows and outflows are exploited for innovation. In the information systems field, open innovation has been closely linked to open source software development teams. However, the literature has not yet identified how open source software development teams use information technologies to create knowledge to bring about open innovation. This study fills in this gap by asking the following research questions: RQ1) How do innovative open source software development teams create knowledge?, and RQ2) What types of information technologies do innovative open source software development teams rely on for enabling knowledge creation? I answer these research questions with a revelatory case study. The findings contribute to the knowledge management theory by identifying how three of the four knowledge creation modes identified by Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995) manifest through different behaviors in the IT-enabled open innovation setting compared to behaviors observed in the organizational setting. The findings also contribute to information systems theory by identifying the role of information technologies in enabling knowledge creation for open innovation. This study further provides researchers and practitioners with ways of identifying knowledge creation by analyzing information technology artifacts, such as mailing lists, issue trackers, and software versioning tools.

[1]  H. Tohidi,et al.  Organizational culture and leadership , 2012 .

[2]  G. Rao,et al.  Open Innovation , 2019, Strategic Decisions.

[3]  G. Zaltman,et al.  Innovations and organizations , 2020, Organizational Innovation.

[4]  Budi Arief,et al.  focus developing with open source software The Many Meanings of Open Source , 2022 .

[5]  Elias G. Carayannis,et al.  Creative system design methodologies: the case of complex technical systems , 2005 .

[6]  Wanda J. Orlikowski,et al.  Learning from Notes: organizational issues in groupware implementation , 1992, CSCW '92.

[7]  Wanda J. . Orlikowski,et al.  Radical and incremental innovations in systems development: an empirical investigation of case tools , 1991 .

[8]  Jacco H. Wesselius,et al.  The Bazaar inside the Cathedral: Business Models for Internal Markets , 2008, IEEE Software.

[9]  Varun Grover,et al.  Open Source: Concepts, Benefits, and Challenges , 2005, Commun. Assoc. Inf. Syst..

[10]  B. Kogut.  The network as knowledge : Generative rules and the emergence of structure , 2000 .

[11]  Oliver Gassmann,et al.  Towards a Theory of Open Innovation: Three Core Process Archetypes , 2004 .

[12]  R. Daft.  A Dual-Core Model of Organizational Innovation , 1978 .

[13]  K. Seers.  Qualitative data analysis , 2011, Evidence Based Nursing.

[14]  Karim R. Lakhani,et al.  Community, Joining, and Specialization in Open Source Software Innovation: A Case Study , 2003 .

[15]  Pekka Abrahamsson,et al.  Microblogging in Open Source Software Development: The Case of Drupal and Twitter , 2014, IEEE Software.

[16]  I. Nonaka,et al.  Organizational knowledge creation theory: A first comprehensive test , 1994 .

[17]  J. Couger,et al.  Ensuring creative approaches in information system design , 1990 .

[18]  Pär J. Ågerfalk,et al.  Outsourcing to an Unknown Workforce: Exploring Opensourcing as a Global Sourcing Strategy , 2008, MIS Q..

[19]  David S. Janzen,et al.  Test-driven learning: intrinsic integration of testing into the CS/SE curriculum , 2006, SIGCSE '06.

[20]  C. P. Goodman,et al.  The Tacit Dimension , 2003 .

[21]  G. Krogh,et al.  Knowledge Creation: A Source of Value , 2000 .

[22]  Alexis Barlow,et al.  Disruptive technologies and applications , 2010 .

[23]  Dave Thomas,et al.  Open Source Ecosystems , 2004, IEEE Softw..

[24]  S. Jha,et al.  Reconsidering Michael Polanyi's Philosophy , 2002 .

[25]  Richard P. Gabriel,et al.  Innovation happens elsewhere - open source as business strategy , 2005 .

[26]  M. Crossan.  The Knowledge-Creating Company: How Japanese Companies Create the Dynamics of Innovation , 1996 .

[27]  R. Zmud.  Diffusion of Modern Software Practices: Influence of Centralization and Formalization , 1982 .

[28]  Pankaj Setia,et al.  How Peripheral Developers Contribute to Open-Source Software Development , 2012, Inf. Syst. Res..

[29]  J. Dutton,et al.  The Adoption of Radical and Incremental Innovations: An Empirical Analysis , 1986 .

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

[31]  Nancy W. Fordham,et al.  Taming the Text: Engaging and Supporting Students in Social Studies Readings , 2002 .

[32]  Georg von Krogh,et al.  Perspective - Tacit Knowledge and Knowledge Conversion: Controversy and Advancement in Organizational Knowledge Creation Theory , 2009, Organ. Sci..

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

[34]  M. Castells,et al.  The Hacker Ethic , 2001 .

[35]  野中 郁次郎,et al.  The Knowledge-Creating Company: How , 1995 .

[36]  D DewarRobert,et al.  The Adoption of Radical and Incremental Innovations , 1986 .

[37]  Georg von Krogh,et al.  The communal resource and information systems , 2002, J. Strateg. Inf. Syst..

[38]  Constance E. Helfat,et al.  The dynamic resource-based view: capability lifecycles , 2003 .

[39]  Kevin Crowston,et al.  Hierarchy and centralization in free and open source software team communications , 2006 .

[40]  J. Liebowitz,et al.  Knowledge Organizations: What Every Manager Should Know , 1998 .

[41]  Karlheinz Kautz,et al.  Knowledge, learning and IT support in a small software company , 2001, ECIS.

[42]  Deniz Eseryel,et al.  Action-embedded transformational leadership in self-managing global information systems development teams , 2013, J. Strateg. Inf. Syst..

[43]  Kimberly A. Neuendorf,et al.  The Content Analysis Guidebook , 2001 .

[44]  David A. Nadler,et al.  Organizing for Innovation , 1986 .

[45]  Daniel L. Sherrell,et al.  Communications of the Association for Information Systems , 1999 .

[46]  Georg von Krogh,et al.  A Note on Knowledge Creation in Open-Source Software Projects: What Can We Learn from Luhmann’s Theory of Social Systems? , 2009 .

[47]  Lorraine Morgan,et al.  Exploring inner source as a form of intraorganisational open innovation , 2011, ECIS.

[48]  Pierre N. Robillard,et al.  The role of knowledge in software development , 1999, CACM.

[49]  P. Trott,et al.  WHY 'OPEN INNOVATION' IS OLD WINE IN NEW BOTTLES , 2009, International Journal of Innovation Management.

[50]  Joel West,et al.  Contrasting Community Building in Sponsored and Community Founded Open Source Projects , 2005, Proceedings of the 38th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences.

[51]  James D. Herbsleb,et al.  Managing a corporate open source software asset , 2010, Commun. ACM.

[52]  Kieran Conboy,et al.  Beyond the customer: Opening the agile systems development process , 2011, Inf. Softw. Technol..

[53]  U. Yeliz Eseryel,et al.  Knowledge management and knowledge management systems , 2005 .

[54]  Tony Wasserman.  Building a Business on Open Source Software , 2009 .

[55]  Keith Tyson.  The art of knowledge , 2003 .

[56]  Kevin Crowston,et al.  Effective Work Practices for FLOSS Development: A Model and Propositions , 2005, Proceedings of the 38th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences.

[57]  A. Bryman,et al.  Encyclopedia of Social Science Research Methods , 2004 .

[58]  Raghu Garud,et al.  Justification and Interlaced Knowledge at ATLAS, CERN , 2014, Organ. Sci..

[59]  Frederick P. Brooks,et al.  No Silver Bullet: Essence and Accidents of Software Engineering , 1987 .

[60]  Nicolas Ducheneaut,et al.  Socialization in an Open Source Software Community: A Socio-Technical Analysis , 2005, Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW).

[61]  Alexander Hars,et al.  Working for free? Motivations of participating in open source projects , 2001, Proceedings of the 34th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences.

[62]  Stefan Haefliger,et al.  Knowledge Creation in Open Source Software Development , 2004 .

[63]  Andrea Hemetsberger,et al.  Learning and Knowledge-building in Open-source Communities , 2006 .

[64]  Robert E. Cole,et al.  From a Firm-Based to a Community-Based Model of Knowledge Creation: The Case of the Linux Kernel Development , 2003, Organ. Sci..

[65]  Sebastian Spaeth,et al.  Code Reuse in Open Source Software , 2008, Manag. Sci..

[66]  F. Damanpour.  Organizational Innovation: A Meta-Analysis Of Effects Of Determinants and Moderators , 1991 .

[67]  Kevin Crowston,et al.  The social structure of free and open source software development , 2005, First Monday.

[68]  Brian Fitzgerald,et al.  The Transformation of Open Source Software , 2006, MIS Q..

[69]  Paul A. David,et al.  The explicit economics of knowledge codification and tacitness , 2000 .

[70]  Timothy J. Duggan,et al.  Writing to Learn across the Curriculum: Tools for Comprehension in Content Area Classes. , 2006 .

[71]  Steven Weber,et al.  The Success of Open Source , 2004 .

[72]  Pankaj K. Garg,et al.  Progressive open source , 2002, ICSE '02.

[73]  Adam LeBrocq.  Style Guide for the Journal of the Association for Information Systems , 2022 .

[74]  Sarah Granger,et al.  The hacker ethic , 1994, ECA '94.