Communication Network Characteristics of Open Source Communities

Author(s)

David Hinds, Nova Southeastern UniversityFollow
Ronald Lee, Florida International UniversityFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

International Journal of Open Source Software and Processes

ISSN

1942-3934

Publication Date

2009

Abstract/Excerpt

Empirical research has shown that social network structure is a critical success factor for various kinds of work groups. The authors extended this research to a new type of work group—the open source software project community—with the objective of exploring the role of communication networks within these intriguing projects. Using archival data from 143 open source project groups, the authors compiled six measures of social network structure and analyzed these in relation to four measures of group success. This study found that the social network structures of these project communities did not appear to be critical success factors at all, but rather they had no significant impact on success or their effect was opposite of that seen in prior studies of work groups. Various conjectures were suggested that might explain these results, offering opportunities for further research.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.4018/jossp.2009100102

Volume

1

Issue

4

First Page

26

Last Page

48

NSUWorks Citation

Hinds, David and Lee, Ronald, "Communication Network Characteristics of Open Source Communities" (2009). HCBE Faculty Articles. 1042.
https://nsuworks.nova.edu/hcbe_facarticles/1042