How African Open Source Software Community Members Thrive: The Role of Communication Visibility and Community Identification

Abstract

Open source software (OSS) is globally ubiquitous, yet the distinctive experiences of African OSS community members remain vastly understudied. To address this critical gap, we surveyed 451 African OSS community members, providing a deeper understanding into communicationrelated factors that enable thriving and mitigate burnout. Findings revealed that both interpersonal and community-level visibility increased members' identification with their OSS community, enhancing thriving and reducing burnout. Community visibility also had a direct positive effect on thriving. This study is one of the first to exclusively focus on the African OSS context by testing and extending theories primarily developed in Western settings, exploring their applicability and unique dynamics. We extend visibility theory broadly by distinguishing two levels of visibility and proposing identification as a key causal mechanism between visibility and socio-psychological outcomes. The research offers novel insights that advance understanding of the factors shaping participation and well-being in underrepresented OSS communities globally.

Keywords: open collaboration, visibility, organizational identification, Africa, open source software, burnout, well-being