开源编排的意识形态转变：验证许可证选择和组织参与对开源项目结果的影响

Medappa, P. K., and Srivastava, S. C. 2020. "Ideological Shifts in Open Source Orchestration: Examining the Influence of Licence Choice and Organisational Participation on Open Source Project Outcomes," European Journal of Information Systems.

尽管志愿者驱动的免费（Libre）和开源软件（FLOSS）的开发是建立在开放和无商业挪用的意识形态信念之上的，但近年来，FLOSS运动见证了两种意识形态的转变。首先，出现了允许对合作开发的代码进行商业挪用的宽松的FLOSS许可，其次，FLOSS项目的组织所有权。由于意识形态信念塑造了志愿贡献者的动机需求，动机需求影响了主要的工作结构，因此可以预期意识形态的转变会影响FLOSS项目中协调工作的机制。出于理解这些意识形态转变影响的需要，我们将两种意识形态转变改变FLOSS工作结构对项目受欢迎和存活结果的影响的机制理论化。采用工具变量的方法，我们对GitHub上托管的项目的分析证实了意识形态转变的重要性，以及两个项目结果之间一些有趣的背景差异。具体地说，我们发现，与许可证类型相关的意识形态转变对所验证的项目结果都有显著影响，而组织所有权只对FLOSS项目的受欢迎程度有显著影响。

RQ

How have the ideological shifts invoked by (a) the emergence of permissive licences, and (b) the shift towards organisational ownership, transformed the influence of FLOSS work structures on project outcomes?

Theoretical Background

1. FLOSS project outcomes – popularity and survival
2. Ideological shifts in the FLOSS movement: 1) emergence of permissive licences, 2) organisational ownership of FLOSS projects
3. Motivations of contributors
4. Work structures in FLOSS projects – superposition

Hypotheses

• Hypothesis 1a: In the absence of organisational ownership, the type of licence moderates the relationship between the degree of superposition and the popularity of FLOSS projects, such that, for projects with restrictive licences, the marginal influence of the degree of superposition on the popularity of the project is higher than for projects with permissive licences.
• Hypothesis 1b: In the absence of organisational ownership, the type of licence moderates the relationship between the degree of superposition and the survival of FLOSS projects, such that, for projects with restrictive licences, the marginal influence of the degree of superposition on the survival of the project is higher than for projects with permissive licences.
• Hypothesis 2a: Organisational ownership mitigates the moderating influence of licence type, such that, the difference in the marginal effect of the degree of superposition on project popularity between restrictive and permissive licences is smaller as compared to non-organisation owned projects.
• Hypothesis 2b: Organisational ownership mitigates the moderating influence of licence type, such that, the difference in the marginal effect of the degree of superposition on project survival between restrictive and permissive licences is smaller as compared to non-organisation owned projects.

Data

Source: GH Archive

Sample: 4159 FLOSS projects, of which 2039 were non-organisation-owned and 2120 were organisation-owned during the first five months of 2014

[DVs] 1. popularity of the project: number of stars; 2. project survival: if the project became inactive within the first year of its inception

[IVs] 1. restrictive licence flag: takes a value of "1" if the project adopts the restrictive "copyleft" clause as defined by FSF; 2. degree of superposition: the ratio of the total number of versions of the project to the total number of individual task contributions made to the project; 3. project ownership: the ratio of the total number of versions of the project to the total number of individual task contributions made to the project

Method

Challenge: The choice of licence type for a project may be endogenous with outcome parameters of interest – such as project popularity and survival.

We leverage the fact that cultural and societal background of the project owner may play a role in her/his decision to choose a restrictive vs. a permissive licence. Specifically, we identify that project owners belonging to more collectivist cultures align with the ideologies of restrictive licences (that prevent the commercialisation and closure of collaboratively developed code). At the same time, the undertones of the beliefs of socialism in restrictive licences vs. liberal beliefs in permissive licences suggest that project owners coming from welfare-oriented economies may better accept the ideologies of restrictive licences (Forbes, 2017).

Using the location information, we measured two cultural and societal indicators for use as instruments for the choice of licence: 1. Geert Hofstede cultural dimension, 2. country's social protection contribution as a percentage of total expenditure in the year 2014–2015.

Results

The ideological shift pertaining to licence type has a significant influence on both the examined project outcomes, whereas organisational ownership has a significant influence only on the popularity of FLOSS projects.