Inside an Open Source Software Community: Empirical Analysis on Individual and Group Level

An established Open Source Software community (Apache Cocoon) was explored using an online questionnaire about demographic data and individual and group-related factors. Individual factors encompassed forms of contributions, motivation, expertise and knowledge. Role structures, expectations towards other members, trust and collaboration issues were analysed at group level. More than 60% of the developer community completed this questionnaire. Results provide a valuable basis for deeper understanding of knowledge sharing, collaboration and innovation processes in distributed work groups.