%0 Conference Paper %B 2010 43rd Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS 2010) %D 2010 %T Analyzing Leadership Dynamics in Distributed Group Communication %A Kevin Crowston %A Andrea Wiggins %A Howison, James %K core %K DYNAMICS %K email %K email archives %K fire %K flossmole %K gaim %K leadership %K mailing list %K project success %K social network analysis %K srda %X We apply social network analysis (SNA) to examine the dynamics of leadership in distributed groups, specifically Free/Libre Open Source Software development projects, and its relation to group performance. Based on prior work on leadership in distributed groups, we identify leaders with those who make the highest level of contribution to the group and assess the degree of leadership by measuring centralization of communications. We compare the dynamics of leadership in two FLOSS projects, one more and one less effective. We find that in both projects, centralization was higher in developer-oriented communications venues than in user-oriented venues, suggesting higher degrees of leadership in developer venues. However, we do not find a consistent relation between centralization and effectiveness. We suggest that SNA can instead be useful for identifying interesting periods in the history of the project, e.g., periods where the leadership of the project is in transition. %B 2010 43rd Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS 2010) %I IEEE %C Honolulu, Hawaii, USA %P 1 - 10 %@ 978-1-4244-5509-6 %R 10.1109/HICSS.2010.62 %> https://flosshub.org/sites/flosshub.org/files/07-06-02.pdf %0 Journal Article %J Information & Management %D 2009 %T Volunteers' involvement in online community based software development %A Bo Xu %A Donald R. Jones %A Bingjia Shao %K age %K developers %K effectiveness %K function points %K ideology %K leadership %K MOTIVATION %K scm %K sourceforge %K status %K Survey %K team size %K Volunteers %X We sought to gain understanding of voluntary developers' involvement in open source software (OSS) projects. Data were collected from voluntary developers working on open source projects. Our findings indicated that a voluntary developer's involvement was very important to his or her performance and that involvement was dependent on individual motivations (personal software needs, reputation and skills gaining expectation, enjoyment in open source coding) and project community factors (leadership effectiveness, interpersonal relationship, community ideology). Our work contributes theoretically and empirically to the body of OSS research and has practical implications for OSS project management. %B Information & Management %V 46 %P 151 - 158 %U http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6VD0-4VP1CN0-1/2/8e1c7be4fcedd1419209c5c843ffa923 %R DOI: 10.1016/j.im.2008.12.005 %0 Journal Article %J Information Economics and Policy %D 2008 %T Explaining leadership in virtual teams: The case of open source software %A Paola Giuri %A Francesco Rullani %A Salvatore Torrisi %K contributors %K Human capital %K leadership %K roles %K sourceforge %K team %X This paper contributes to the open source software (OSS) literature by investigating the likelihood that a participant becomes a project leader. Project leaders are key actors in a virtual community and are crucial to the success of the OSS model. Knowledge of the forces that lead to the emergence of project managers among the multitude of participants is still limited. We aim to fill this gap in the literature by analyzing the association between the roles played by an individual who is registered with a project, and a set of individual-level and project-level characteristics. In line with the theory of occupational choice elaborated by (Lazear, E.P., 2002. Entrepreneurship. NBER Working Paper No. 9109, Cambridge, Mass; Lazear, E.P., 2004. Balanced skills and entrepreneurship, American Economic Review 94, pp. 208-211), we find that OSS project leaders possess diversified skill sets which are needed to select the inputs provided by various participants, motivate contributors, and coordinate their efforts. Specialists, like pure developers, are endowed with more focused skill sets. Moreover, we find that the degree of modularity of the development process is positively associated with the presence of project leaders. That result is consistent with the modern theory of modular production (Baldwin, C.Y., Clark, K.B., 1997. Managing in an age of modularity. Harvard Business Review September-October. pp. 84-93; Mateos-Garcia, J., Steinmueller, W.E., 2003. The Open Source Way of Working: A New Paradigm for the Division of Labour in Software Development? SPRU - Science and Technology Policy Studies. Open Source Movement Research INK Working Paper, No. 1; Aoki, M., 2004. An organizational architecture of T-form: Silicon Valley clustering and its institutional coherence. Industrial and Corporate Change 13, pp. 967-981). %B Information Economics and Policy %V 20 %P 305 - 315 %U http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6V8J-4SRW10C-1/2/5ce36096ba3947338962268b54a5a7a9 %R DOI: 10.1016/j.infoecopol.2008.06.002 %0 Journal Article %J Information Economics and Policy %D 2008 %T The institutions of open source software: Examining the Debian community☆ %A Mateos Garcia, J. %A Steinmueller, W.E. %K authority %K COMMUNITY %K conflict %K debian %K decentralization %K growth %K institutions %K leadership %X Free and open source software activities involve and, perhaps, evolve institutions (rules, norms and standards) that influence the formation, growth, and demise of communities. Community institutions are attractors for some individuals while discouraging other individuals from entering or continuing to participate. Their suitability may change as a community grows. This paper examines the institutions of the Debian community where issues of community identity, distribution of authority, and decentralisation have facilitated growth and development. These same institutions have also resulted in conflicts regarding community purposes and the quality and delivery of the community’s output. We examine the institutional redesign undertaken to address these problems and derive implications for F/LOS communities and companies. %B Information Economics and Policy %V 20 %P 333 - 344 %8 12/2008 %N 4 %! Information Economics and Policy %R 10.1016/j.infoecopol.2008.06.001 %> https://flosshub.org/sites/flosshub.org/files/The_institutions_of_open_source_software-_IR.pdf %0 Conference Proceedings %B Proceedings of the 4th ICSE Workshop on Open Source %D 2004 %T Collaboration, Leadership, Control, and Conflict Negotiation in the Netbeans.org Community %A Chris Jensen %A Walt Scacchi %K conflict %K leadership %K netbeans %X Large open source software development communities are quickly learning that, to be successful, they must integrate efforts not only among the organizations investing developers within the community and unaffiliated volunteer contributors, but also negotiate relationships with external groups hoping to sway the social and technical direction of the community and its products. Leadership and control sharing across organizations and individuals in and between communities are common sources of conflict. Such conflict often leads to breakdowns in collaboration. This paper seeks to explore the negotiation of these conflicts, collaborative efforts, and leadership and control structures in the Netbeans.org community. %B Proceedings of the 4th ICSE Workshop on Open Source %P 48-52 %> https://flosshub.org/sites/flosshub.org/files/jensen_0.pdf %0 Conference Paper %B Proceedings of 7th Annual Conference of the Southern Association for Information Systems %D 2003 %T Organizational Structure of Open Source Projects: A Life Cycle Approach %A Donald E. Wynn %K division of labor %K downloads %K growth %K interview %K leadership %K life cycle %K lifecycle %K project success %K roles %K sourceforge %K Survey %X The structure of open source project communities is discussed in relation to the organizational life cycle. In lieu of sales figures, the download counts for each project are used to identify the life cycle stage of a random sample of open source projects. A research model is proposed that attempts to measure the fit between the life cycle stage and the specific organizational characteristics of these projects (focus, division of labor, role of the leader, level of commitment, and coordination/control) as an indicator of the success of a project as measured by the satisfaction and involvement of both developers and users. %B Proceedings of 7th Annual Conference of the Southern Association for Information Systems %> https://flosshub.org/sites/flosshub.org/files/wynn2004.pdf