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The governance of free/open source software projects: monolithic, multidimensional, or configurational?

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  • M. Markus

Abstract

This paper presents the results of a qualitative review and synthesis of the literature on open source governance, addressing four key questions: (1) How has open source software (OSS) governance been defined? (2) Has the phenomenon of OSS governance been conceptualized as a monolithic or multidimensional phenomenon? (3) What purposes is OSS governance hypothesized to serve? and (4) What are the dimensions of OSS governance, and how are these dimensions related to each other? The results of the review suggest a framework for future comparative and case study research on OSS governance, and they provide a basis for comparison with research on the governance of other distributed, community-based forms of content and creation. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2007

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  • M. Markus, 2007. "The governance of free/open source software projects: monolithic, multidimensional, or configurational?," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 11(2), pages 151-163, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jmgtgv:v:11:y:2007:i:2:p:151-163
    DOI: 10.1007/s10997-007-9021-x
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    5. Linus Dahlander & Lars Frederiksen & Francesco Rullani, 2008. "Online Communities and Open Innovation," Industry and Innovation, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(2), pages 115-123.
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    11. 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.
    12. Gregory D. Moody & Laurie J. Kirsch & Sandra A. Slaughter & Brian Kimball Dunn & Qin Weng, 2016. "Facilitating the Transformational: An Exploration of Control in Cyberinfrastructure Projects and the Discovery of Field Control," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 27(2), pages 324-346, June.
    13. Robert Viseur & Nicolas Jullien, 2023. "CommunesPlone, an original open-source model of resource pooling in the public sector," Post-Print hal-04107638, HAL.
    14. De Noni, Ivan & Ganzaroli, Andrea & Orsi, Luigi, 2013. "The evolution of OSS governance: a dimensional comparative analysis," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 29(3), pages 247-263.
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    16. Lerner, Jürgen & Kenis, Patrick & Raaij, Denise van & Brandes, Ulrik, 2011. "Will they stay or will they go? How network properties of WebICs predict dropout rates of valuable Wikipedians," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 29(5), pages 404-413.

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