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All Are Not Equal: An Examination of the Economic Returns to Different Forms of Participation in Open Source Software Communities

Hann, Il-Horn, Roberts, Jeffrey A., Slaughter, Sandra A.·2013·Information Systems Research
DOI 10.1287/isre.2013.0474
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Abstract

Open source software (OSS) communities live and die with the continuous contributions of programmers who often participate without direct remuneration. An intriguing question is whether such sustained participation in OSS projects yields economic benefits to the participants. Moreover, as participants engage in OSS projects, they take on different roles and activities in the community. This raises additional questions of whether different forms of participation in OSS communities are associated with different economic rewards and, if so, in which contexts. In this paper, we draw upon theories of signaling and job matching to hypothesize that participants who possess “proof” of their skills in OSS projects are financially rewarded for their activities in the labor market. More specifically, we distinguish between participation in OSS communities that is associated with a signaling value for unobserved productivity characteristics and an additional value that accrues to participants whose OSS roles and activities match those in their paid employment. Following a cohort of OSS programmers over a six-year period, we empirically examine the wages and OSS performance of participants in three of the foremost OSS projects operating within the Apache Software Foundation. Controlling for individual characteristics and other wage-related factors, our findings reveal that credentials earned through a merit-based ranking system are associated with as much as an 18% increase in wages. More…

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  • The ideas of open source may be subverted by certain organisations to capture free labour in exchange for the promise of positive market signals of worth.

    “the ideas of open source may be subverted by certain organisations to capture free labour in exchange for the promise of positive market signals of worth (Hann et al., 2013)”

    From The sustainability of open source commons (2023) · cites this paper as Hann et al., 2013

  • Expected benefits of OSS contribution include signaling skills to the labor market, building reputation within the community, and deriving intrinsic satisfaction and a sense of achievement.

    “Expected benefits include signaling skills to the labor market, building reputation within the community, and deriving intrinsic satisfaction and a sense of achievement (Lakhani and Wolf 2003, Roberts et al. 2006, Hann et al. 2013).”

    From The Impact of Generative AI on Collaborative Open-Source Software Development: Evidence from GitHub Copilot  (2024) · cites this paper as Hann et al. 2013

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Authors
Hann, I.-H., Roberts, J. A., & Slaughter, S. A.
Affiliations
  • University of Maryland, College Park (US)
  • Duquesne University (US)
  • Georgia Institute of Technology (US)
ORCID
Hann, Il-Horn
Venue
Information Systems Research
Publisher
Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS)
Published
2013-09
Volume
24
Issue
3
Pages
520-538
ISSN
  • 1047-7047 (ISSN-L)
  • 1526-5536
DOI
10.1287/isre.2013.0474
OpenAlex
W2088772363
Cited by
97
References
52
Citations by year
2026: 4 · 2025: 14 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 10 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 9 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 8 · 2016: 9 · 2015: 8 · 2014: 2 · 2013: 2
FWCI
10.63
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
Information Systems Research (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Computer Science Applications › Open Source Software Innovations
  • Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Strategy and Management › Digital Platforms and Economics
  • Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Information Systems › Expert finding and Q&A systems
Keywords
open source communities, signaling theory, job matching, meritocracy, wages, Apache Software Foundation, information technology management, developer productivity

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