How do different stakeholder groups within an open source software project influence the project's development: a case study of OpenSimulator
Journal article, 2023

Purpose
This research investigates how the value creation interests and activities of different stakeholder groups within one open source software (OSS) project influence the project's development over time.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conducted a case study of OpenSimulator using textual and thematic analyses of the initial four years of OpenSimulator developer mailing list to identify each stakeholder group and guide our analysis of their interests and value creation activities over time.
Findings
The analysis revealed that while each stakeholder group was active within the OSS project's development, the different groups possessed complementary interests that enabled the project to evolve. In the formative period, entrepreneurs were interested in the software's strategic direction in the market, academics and SMEs in software functionality and large firms and hobbyists in software testing. Each group retained its primary interest in the maturing period with academics and SMEs separating into server- and client-side usability. The analysis shed light on how the different stakeholder groups overcame tensions amongst themselves and took specific actions to sustain the project.
Originality/value
The authors extend stakeholder theory by reconceptualizing the focal organization and its stakeholders for OSS projects. To date, OSS research has primarily focused on examining one project relative to its marketplace. Using stakeholder theory, we identified stakeholder groups within a single OSS project to demonstrate their distinct interests and how these interests influence their value creation activities over time. Collectively, these interests enable the project's long-term development.

Collaboration

Virtual world

FLOSS (Open source software)

Stakeholder theory

Text analysis

Case study

Virtual community

Author

Paul Di Gangi

University of Alabama

Robin Teigland

Chalmers, Technology Management and Economics, Entrepreneurship and Strategy

Zeynep Yetis

Stockholm School of Economics

Information Technology and People

0959-3845 (ISSN)

Vol. 36 7 3048-3078

Areas of Advance

Information and Communication Technology

Subject Categories

Business Administration

Software Engineering

Information Systemes, Social aspects

DOI

10.1108/ITP-10-2021-0751

More information

Latest update

11/30/2023