Born to Win? How Network Structure at Founding Affects the Success of Open Source Development Projects

Abstract:     
User-driven innovation initiatives enabled by virtual social networks are gaining importance in modern business contexts. For example, the open source software development movement employs an online network whose members collaborate to develop software. In this user-network-driven innovation context, the product development process consists of two stages: (1) transition from an idea to initiating product development activity and (2) maturation of the projects to become marketable. The network structure that surrounds a project at inception (i.e., birth or founding) should play a significant role in determining which projects become active (stage 1) and influencing the time to market for those active projects (stage 2). The authors test their hypotheses with data from 817 new open source projects from SourceForge.net, the largest forum for open source projects. Projects whose founders are embedded in the network and whose positions enable them to arbitrate connections among projects are more likely to become active and experience shorter times to market. The findings have significant implications for understanding and managing the product development process in a networked environment.

Keywords: social networks, open source, product development, innovation, type II tobit, social capital, embeddedness, structural holes, community

Working Paper Series