Governance Structures of Free/Open Source Software Development: Examining the role of modular product design as a governance mechanism in the FreeBSD Project

My dissertation looks at the Governance Structures of Free/Open Source (FOSS) Development, based on a case study of FreeBSD, a large FOSS project. More specifically, it examines 3 well-known theories. The 1st theory [decreasing returns to scale] holds that increasing the number of persons working together results in a productivity drop due to (a...

Understanding open source communities: An organizational perspective

Open source communities are groups of sometimes hundreds if not thousands of individuals with different interests, backgrounds and motives. Many participants are volunteers, who are not paid to take part in the communities. Furthermore, many never get to meet each other in real life. They meet virtually, on the Internet. Yet they are able to...