The Rise and Fall of an Online Project. Is Bureaucracy Killing Efficiency in Open Knowledge Production?

Jullien, Nicolas; Crowston, Kevin; Ortega, Felipe

The Rise and Fall of an Online Project. Is Bureaucracy Killing Efficiency in Open Knowledge Production?

OpenSym, 2015

10 Pages Posted: 9 Sep 2015 Last revised: 15 Sep 2015

See all articles by Nicolas Jullien

Nicolas Jullien

IMT Atlantique; M@rsouin (Môle Amoricain de Recherche sur la Société de l'information et les Usages d'Internet)

Kevin Crowston

Syracuse University - School of Information Studies

Felipe Ortega

Universidad Carlos III de Madrid - GSyC/Libresoft

Date Written: August 21, 2015

Abstract

We evaluate the efficiency of an online knowledge production project and identify factors that affect efficiency. To assess efficiency, we used the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) modelling methodology. We apply DEA to data from more than 30 Wikipedia language projects over three years. We show that the main Wikipedia projects were indeed less efficient that smaller ones, an effect that can be attributed in part to decreasing returns to scale.

Keywords: Wikipedia, Data Envelopment Analysis, efficiency, information system

JEL Classification: C67, D29, L23, L86

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

Jullien, Nicolas and Crowston, Kevin and Ortega, Felipe, The Rise and Fall of an Online Project. Is Bureaucracy Killing Efficiency in Open Knowledge Production? (August 21, 2015). OpenSym, 2015. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2657512