An Agent Simulation Study on Conflict, Community Climate and Innovation in Open Source Communities

More than ever the complexity of innovation requires group efforts, as teams of scientists and engineers from diverse backgrounds work together to solve problems. One of the significant problems in understanding emergence of innovation involves how virtual innovation organizations and communities govern and coordinate to maximize innovation output. An agent simulation study is conducted to examine the impact of culture and conflict management styles on collective creativity in open source innovation systems. Findings suggest that decentralized coordination schemes such as emergent selection such as found in utility communities and moderate degrees of assertiveness and cooperation for conflict management result in higher incidence of innovation.