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Motivation and sorting of human capital in open innovation
Author(s) -
Belenzon Sharon,
Schankerman Mark
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
strategic management journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 11.035
H-Index - 286
eISSN - 1097-0266
pISSN - 0143-2095
DOI - 10.1002/smj.2284
Subject(s) - license , exploit , openness to experience , reputation , reciprocity (cultural anthropology) , sort , sorting , open innovation , business , preference , survey data collection , marketing , knowledge management , industrial organization , computer science , microeconomics , economics , sociology , psychology , social psychology , social science , statistics , computer security , mathematics , anthropology , information retrieval , programming language , operating system
This paper studies how business models can be designed to tap effectively into open innovation labor markets with heterogeneously motivated workers. Using data on open source software, we show that motivations are diverse, and demonstrate how managers can strategically influence the flow of code contributions and their impact on project performance. Unlike previous literature using survey data, we exploit the observed pattern of project membership and code contributions—the “revealed preference” of developers—to infer the motivations driving their decision to contribute. Developers strongly sort along key dimensions of the business model chosen by project managers, especially the degree of openness of the project license. The results indicate an important role for intrinsic motivation, reputation, and labor market signaling, and a more limited role for reciprocity . Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.