Premium
Open Source Software Production, Spontaneous Input, and Organizational Learning
Author(s) -
GARZARELLI GIAMPAOLO,
FONTANELLA RICCARDO
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
american journal of economics and sociology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.199
H-Index - 38
eISSN - 1536-7150
pISSN - 0002-9246
DOI - 10.1111/j.1536-7150.2011.00798.x
Subject(s) - productivity , production (economics) , incentive , organizational learning , knowledge management , business , open source software , modular design , process (computing) , work (physics) , turnover , software , industrial organization , process management , operations management , computer science , economics , management , microeconomics , engineering , economic growth , mechanical engineering , programming language , operating system
A bstract This work shows that the modular organization of voluntary open source software (OSS) production, whereby programmers supply effort of their accord, capitalizes more on division than on specialization of labor. This is so because voluntary OSS production is characterized by an organizational learning process that dominates the individual one. Organizational learning reveals production choices that would otherwise remain unknown, thereby increasing productivity and indirectly reinforcing incentives to undertake collective problem solving.