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Champions of revealing--the role of open source developers in commercial firms

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  • Joachim Henkel

Abstract

The link between firms engaging in open source software (OSS) development and the OSS community is established by individual developers. This linkage might entail a principal-agent issue due to the developer's double allegiance to firm and OSS community, and expose the firm to the risk of losing intellectual property. Using both interviews and a large-scale survey, I substantiate the importance of the developer's role. However, neither interview data nor regression analysis show indications of commercially harmful revealing behavior induced by "Free Software ideology." Management, on the other hand, sometimes seems to be overly concerned about openness. I conclude that a more positive stance towards openness will allow firms to better share in the benefits of open innovation processes. Copyright 2009 , Oxford University Press.

Suggested Citation

  • Joachim Henkel, 2009. "Champions of revealing--the role of open source developers in commercial firms," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 18(3), pages 435-471, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:indcch:v:18:y:2009:i:3:p:435-471
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Engelhardt, Sebastian v. & Freytag, Andreas, 2013. "Institutions, culture, and open source," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 90-110.
    2. Sebastian Spaeth & Georg von Krogh & Fang He, 2015. "Research Note —Perceived Firm Attributes and Intrinsic Motivation in Sponsored Open Source Software Projects," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 26(1), pages 224-237, March.
    3. Haeussler, Carolin, 2011. "Information-sharing in academia and the industry: A comparative study," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(1), pages 105-122, February.
    4. Nedon, Verena & Herstatt, Cornelius, 2014. "R&D employee's intention to exchange knowledge within open innovation projects," Working Papers 83, Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH), Institute for Technology and Innovation Management.
    5. Alireza Javanmardi Kashan & Kavoos Mohannak & Mirko Perano & Gian Luca Casali, 2018. "A Discovery of Multiple Levels of Open Innovation in Understanding the Economic Sustainability. A Case Study in the Manufacturing Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-21, December.
    6. Massimo G. Colombo & Douglas Cumming & Ali Mohammadi & Cristina Rossi-Lamastra & Anu Wadhwa, 2016. "Open business models and venture capital finance," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 25(2), pages 353-370.
    7. Jonathan Sims & Victor P. Seidel, 2017. "Organizations coupled with communities: the strategic effects on firms engaged in community-coupled open innovation," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 26(4), pages 647-665.
    8. Andersen-Gott, Morten & Ghinea, Gheorghita & Bygstad, Bendik, 2012. "Why do commercial companies contribute to open source software?," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 106-117.
    9. Colombo, Massimo G. & Piva, Evila & Rossi-Lamastra, Cristina, 2014. "Open innovation and within-industry diversification in small and medium enterprises: The case of open source software firms," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(5), pages 891-902.
    10. Marion A. Weissenberger-Eibl & Tim Hampel, 2021. "Bridging the gap: integrating external knowledge from open innovation platforms," SN Business & Economics, Springer, vol. 1(7), pages 1-32, July.
    11. Ter Wal, Anne L.J. & Criscuolo, Paola & Salter, Ammon, 2017. "Making a marriage of materials: The role of gatekeepers and shepherds in the absorption of external knowledge and innovation performance," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(5), pages 1039-1054.
    12. Adrián Kovács & Bart Looy & Bruno Cassiman, 2015. "Exploring the scope of open innovation: a bibliometric review of a decade of research," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 104(3), pages 951-983, September.
    13. West, Joel & Kuk, George, 2016. "The complementarity of openness: How MakerBot leveraged Thingiverse in 3D printing," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 169-181.
    14. Jong, Simcha & Slavova, Kremena, 2014. "When publications lead to products: The open science conundrum in new product development," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(4), pages 645-654.

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