Code Reuse in Open Source Software Development: Quantitative Evidence, Drivers, and Impediments

Journal of the Association for Information Systems, Vol. 11, No. 12, pp. 868-901, 2010

46 Pages Posted: 19 Oct 2009 Last revised: 6 Jan 2011

See all articles by Manuel Sojer

Manuel Sojer

Technische Universität München (TUM) - TUM School of Management

Joachim Henkel

TUM School of Management,Technical University of Munich; Technische Universität München (TUM) - Faculty of Economics and Business Administration

Date Written: March 9, 2010

Abstract

The focus of existing open source software (OSS) research has been on how and why individuals and firms add to the commons of public OSS code - that is, on the “giving” side of this open innovation process. In contrast, research on the corresponding “receiving” side of the innovation process is scarce. We address this gap, studying how existing OSS code is reused and serves as an input to further OSS development. Our findings are based on a survey with 686 responses from OSS developers. As the most interesting results, our multivariate analyses of developers’ code reuse behavior point out that developers with larger personal networks within the OSS community and those who have experience in a greater number of OSS projects reuse more, presumably because both network size and a broad project experience facilitate local search for reusable artifacts. Moreover, we find that a development paradigm that calls for releasing an initial functioning version of the software early - as the “credible promise” in OSS - leads to increased reuse. Finally, we identify developers’ interest to tackle difficult technical challenges as detrimental to efficient reuse-based innovation. Beyond OSS, we discuss the relevance of our findings for companies developing software and for the receiving side of open innovation processes in general.

Keywords: Innovation, Software Development, Open Source Software, Code Reuse

Suggested Citation

Sojer, Manuel and Henkel, Joachim, Code Reuse in Open Source Software Development: Quantitative Evidence, Drivers, and Impediments (March 9, 2010). Journal of the Association for Information Systems, Vol. 11, No. 12, pp. 868-901, 2010, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1489789

Manuel Sojer (Contact Author)

Technische Universität München (TUM) - TUM School of Management ( email )

Arcisstr. 21
Munich, 80333
Germany

Joachim Henkel

TUM School of Management,Technical University of Munich ( email )

Arcisstrasse 21
Munchen, 80333
Germany

Technische Universität München (TUM) - Faculty of Economics and Business Administration ( email )

Arcisstr. 21
Munich, D-80333
Germany

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