IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/inm/orisre/v24y2013i3p539-560.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Networks, Social Influence, and the Choice Among Competing Innovations: Insights from Open Source Software Licenses

Author

Listed:
  • Param Vir Singh

    (David A. Tepper School of Business, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213)

  • Corey Phelps

    (HEC Paris, 78351 Jouy-en-Josas, 15213 France)

Abstract

Existing research provides little insight into how social influence affects the adoption and diffusion of competing innovative artifacts and how the experiences of organizational members who have worked with particular innovations in their previous employers affect their current organizations' adoption decision. We adapt and extend the heterogeneous diffusion model from sociology and examine the conditions under which prior adopters of competing open source software (OSS) licenses socially influence how a new OSS project chooses among such licenses and how the experiences of the project manager of a new OSS project with particular licenses affects its susceptibility to this social influence. We test our predictions using a sample of 5,307 open source projects hosted at SourceForge. Our results suggest the most important factor determining a new project's license choice is the type of license chosen by existing projects that are socially closer to it in its inter-project social network. Moreover, we find that prior adopters of a particular license are more infectious in their influence on the license choice of a new project as their size and performance rankings increase. We also find that managers of new projects who have been members of more successful prior OSS projects and who have greater depth and diversity of experience in the OSS community are less susceptible to social influence. Finally, we find a project manager is more likely to adopt a particular license type when his or her project occupies a similar social role as other projects that have adopted the same license. These results have implications for research on innovation adoption and diffusion, open source software licensing, and the governance of economic exchange.

Suggested Citation

  • Param Vir Singh & Corey Phelps, 2013. "Networks, Social Influence, and the Choice Among Competing Innovations: Insights from Open Source Software Licenses," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 24(3), pages 539-560, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:orisre:v:24:y:2013:i:3:p:539-560
    DOI: 10.1287/isre.1120.0449
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/isre.1120.0449
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1287/isre.1120.0449?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Comino, Stefano & Manenti, Fabio M. & Parisi, Maria Laura, 2007. "From planning to mature: On the success of open source projects," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(10), pages 1575-1586, December.
    2. James J. Heckman, 1976. "The Common Structure of Statistical Models of Truncation, Sample Selection and Limited Dependent Variables and a Simple Estimator for Such Models," NBER Chapters, in: Annals of Economic and Social Measurement, Volume 5, number 4, pages 475-492, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Oded Netzer & James M. Lattin & V. Srinivasan, 2008. "A Hidden Markov Model of Customer Relationship Dynamics," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 27(2), pages 185-204, 03-04.
    4. Josh Lerner & Jean Tirole, 2002. "Some Simple Economics of Open Source," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(2), pages 197-234, June.
    5. Bronwyn H. Hall, 2004. "Innovation and Diffusion," NBER Working Papers 10212, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Bramoullé, Yann & Djebbari, Habiba & Fortin, Bernard, 2009. "Identification of peer effects through social networks," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 150(1), pages 41-55, May.
    7. Corey C. Phelps & Ralph Heidl & Anu Wadhwa, 2012. "Networks, knowledge, and knowledge networks: A critical review and research agenda," Post-Print hal-00715591, HAL.
    8. Yves Atchade, 2005. "An Adaptive Version for the Metropolis Adjusted Langevin Algorithm with a Truncated Drift," RePAd Working Paper Series LRSP-WP1, Département des sciences administratives, UQO.
    9. B. Demil & X. Lecocq, 2006. "Neither Market nor Hierarchy nor Network: The Emergence of Bazaar Governance," Post-Print hal-00185026, HAL.
    10. Eric Abrahamson & Lori Rosenkopf, 1997. "Social Network Effects on the Extent of Innovation Diffusion: A Computer Simulation," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 8(3), pages 289-309, June.
    11. Robert G. Fichman, 2004. "Real Options and IT Platform Adoption: Implications for Theory and Practice," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 15(2), pages 132-154, June.
    12. Charles F. Manski, 1993. "Identification of Endogenous Social Effects: The Reflection Problem," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 60(3), pages 531-542.
    13. Yves F. Atchadé, 2006. "An Adaptive Version for the Metropolis Adjusted Langevin Algorithm with a Truncated Drift," Methodology and Computing in Applied Probability, Springer, vol. 8(2), pages 235-254, June.
    14. Timothy S. Simcoe & Dave M. Waguespack, 2011. "Status, Quality, and Attention: What's in a (Missing) Name?," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 57(2), pages 274-290, February.
    15. Peter V. Marsden & Noah E. Friedkin, 1993. "Network Studies of Social Influence," Sociological Methods & Research, , vol. 22(1), pages 127-151, August.
    16. de Laat, Paul B., 2005. "Copyright or copyleft?: An analysis of property regimes for software development," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(10), pages 1511-1532, December.
    17. Gino Cattani & Simone Ferriani, 2008. "A Core/Periphery Perspective on Individual Creative Performance: Social Networks and Cinematic Achievements in the Hollywood Film Industry," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 19(6), pages 824-844, December.
    18. Anjana Susarla & Jeong-Ha Oh & Yong Tan, 2012. "Social Networks and the Diffusion of User-Generated Content: Evidence from YouTube," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 23(1), pages 23-41, March.
    19. Jungpil Hahn & Jae Yun Moon & Chen Zhang, 2008. "Emergence of New Project Teams from Open Source Software Developer Networks: Impact of Prior Collaboration Ties," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 19(3), pages 369-391, September.
    20. Pino G. Audia & Jack A. Goncalo, 2007. "Past Success and Creativity over Time: A Study of Inventors in the Hard Disk Drive Industry," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 53(1), pages 1-15, January.
    21. Katherine J. Stewart & Anthony P. Ammeter & Likoebe M. Maruping, 2006. "Impacts of License Choice and Organizational Sponsorship on User Interest and Development Activity in Open Source Software Projects," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 17(2), pages 126-144, June.
    22. Sonali K. Shah, 2006. "Motivation, Governance, and the Viability of Hybrid Forms in Open Source Software Development," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 52(7), pages 1000-1014, July.
    23. Jaeyong Song & Paul Almeida & Geraldine Wu, 2003. "Learning--by--Hiring: When Is Mobility More Likely to Facilitate Interfirm Knowledge Transfer?," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 49(4), pages 351-365, April.
    24. Sushil Bikhchandani & David Hirshleifer & Ivo Welch, 1998. "Learning from the Behavior of Others: Conformity, Fads, and Informational Cascades," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 12(3), pages 151-170, Summer.
    25. Rajdeep Grewal & Gary L. Lilien & Girish Mallapragada, 2006. "Location, Location, Location: How Network Embeddedness Affects Project Success in Open Source Systems," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 52(7), pages 1043-1056, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Samer Faraj & Georg von Krogh & Eric Monteiro & Karim R. Lakhani, 2016. "Special Section Introduction—Online Community as Space for Knowledge Flows," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 27(4), pages 668-684, December.
    2. Erdem Dogukan Yilmaz & Tim Meyer & Milan Miric, 2023. "Preventing Others from Commercializing Your Innovation: Evidence from Creative Commons Licenses," Papers 2309.00536, arXiv.org.
    3. Terrence August & Hyoduk Shin & Tunay I. Tunca, 2018. "Generating Value Through Open Source: Software Service Market Regulation and Licensing Policy," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 29(1), pages 186-205, March.
    4. Terrence August & Wei Chen & Kevin Zhu, 2021. "Competition Among Proprietary and Open-Source Software Firms: The Role of Licensing in Strategic Contribution," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(5), pages 3041-3066, May.
    5. Yang Gao, 2022. "The Belt and Road Initiative and cascading innovation in China’s domestic railway ecosystem," Journal of International Business Policy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 5(2), pages 236-258, June.
    6. John Sibley Butler & Rajiv Garg & Bryan Stephens, 2020. "Social Networks, Funding, and Regional Advantages in Technology Entrepreneurship: An Empirical Analysis," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 31(1), pages 198-216, March.
    7. Maha Shaikh & Emmanuelle Vaast, 2016. "Folding and Unfolding: Balancing Openness and Transparency in Open Source Communities," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 27(4), pages 813-833, December.
    8. Poonacha K. Medappa & Shirish C. Srivastava, 2019. "Does Superposition Influence the Success of FLOSS Projects? An Examination of Open-Source Software Development by Organizations and Individuals," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 30(3), pages 764-786, September.
    9. Vivianna Fang He & Phanish Puranam & Yash Raj Shrestha & Georg von Krogh, 2020. "Resolving governance disputes in communities: A study of software license decisions," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(10), pages 1837-1868, October.
    10. Prasanta Bhattacharya & Tuan Q. Phan & Xue Bai & Edoardo M. Airoldi, 2019. "A Coevolution Model of Network Structure and User Behavior: The Case of Content Generation in Online Social Networks," Service Science, INFORMS, vol. 30(1), pages 117-132, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Wen Wen & Chris Forman & Stuart J. H. Graham, 2013. "Research Note ---The Impact of Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement on Open Source Software Project Success," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 24(4), pages 1131-1146, December.
    2. Arun Sundararajan & Foster Provost & Gal Oestreicher-Singer & Sinan Aral, 2013. "Research Commentary ---Information in Digital, Economic, and Social Networks," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 24(4), pages 883-905, December.
    3. Chen Zhang & Jungpil Hahn & Prabuddha De, 2013. "Research Note ---Continued Participation in Online Innovation Communities: Does Community Response Matter Equally for Everyone?," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 24(4), pages 1112-1130, December.
    4. Smirnova, Inna & Reitzig, Markus & Alexy, Oliver, 2022. "What makes the right OSS contributor tick? Treatments to motivate high-skilled developers," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(1).
    5. Engelhardt, Sebastian v. & Freytag, Andreas, 2013. "Institutions, culture, and open source," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 90-110.
    6. Sherae Daniel & Ritu Agarwal & Katherine J. Stewart, 2013. "The Effects of Diversity in Global, Distributed Collectives: A Study of Open Source Project Success," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 24(2), pages 312-333, June.
    7. Rullani, Francesco & Haefliger, Stefan, 2013. "The periphery on stage: The intra-organizational dynamics in online communities of creation," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(4), pages 941-953.
    8. Maha Shaikh & Emmanuelle Vaast, 2016. "Folding and Unfolding: Balancing Openness and Transparency in Open Source Communities," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 27(4), pages 813-833, December.
    9. Elina H. Hwang & David Krackhardt, 2020. "Online Knowledge Communities: Breaking or Sustaining Knowledge Silos?," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 29(1), pages 138-155, January.
    10. Girish Mallapragada & Rajdeep Grewal & Gary Lilien, 2012. "User-Generated Open Source Products: Founder's Social Capital and Time to Product Release," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 31(3), pages 474-492, May.
    11. Islam, Mazhar & Miller, Jacob & Park, Haemin Dennis, 2017. "But what will it cost me? How do private costs of participation affect open source software projects?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(6), pages 1062-1070.
    12. SHIMAMOTO Daichi & Yu Ri KIM & TODO Yasuyuki, 2019. "The Effect of Social Interactions on Exporting Activities: Evidence from Micro, Small, and Medium-Sized Enterprises in rural Vietnam," Discussion papers 19020, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    13. Xuan Yang & Xiao Li & Daning Hu & Harry Jiannan Wang, 2021. "Differential impacts of social influence on initial and sustained participation in open source software projects," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 72(9), pages 1133-1147, September.
    14. Xiong, Hang & Payne, Diane & Kinsella, Stephen, 2016. "Peer effects in the diffusion of innovations: Theory and simulation," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 1-13.
    15. Na Liu & Jiancheng Guan, 2015. "Dynamic evolution of collaborative networks: evidence from nano-energy research in China," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 102(3), pages 1895-1919, March.
    16. Param Vir Singh & Nachiketa Sahoo & Tridas Mukhopadhyay, 2014. "How to Attract and Retain Readers in Enterprise Blogging?," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 25(1), pages 35-52, March.
    17. Xiaodong Liu, 2020. "GMM identification and estimation of peer effects in a system of simultaneous equations," Journal of Spatial Econometrics, Springer, vol. 1(1), pages 1-27, December.
    18. Matt Germonprez & Julie E. Kendall & Kenneth E. Kendall & Lars Mathiassen & Brett Young & Brian Warner, 2017. "A Theory of Responsive Design: A Field Study of Corporate Engagement with Open Source Communities," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 28(1), pages 64-83, March.
    19. Nicolai j. Foss & Lars Frederiksen & Francesco Rullani, 2016. "Problem‐formulation and problem‐solving in self‐organized communities: How modes of communication shape project behaviors in the free open‐source software community," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(13), pages 2589-2610, December.
    20. Yuqing Ren & Jilin Chen & John Riedl, 2016. "The Impact and Evolution of Group Diversity in Online Open Collaboration," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 62(6), pages 1668-1686, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:inm:orisre:v:24:y:2013:i:3:p:539-560. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Asher (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/inforea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.