Universität zu Köln

Müller, Mario ORCID: 0000-0003-1794-6057 (2023). Sustainability of Open Source Software Projects: On the Influence of Technical Interdependencies in Software Ecosystems on Developer Participation. PhD thesis, Universität zu Köln.

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Abstract

In the community-based model of open source software (OSS) development, OSS projects are built and maintained by developers that voluntarily contribute their skills, knowledge, and time, thus making them dependent on their continued participation. Therefore, the question of how projects can attract and retain developers is of major concern for their sustainability. OSS projects are embedded into a complex network of technical interdependent projects that emerges from building upon and reusing existing software components. In these so-called software ecosystems, the issue of sustained participation is not only a concern of a single project but also other dependent projects. However, the role and influence of these interdependencies between projects have so far been neglected by Information Systems researchers. This dissertation thus asks: _How do technical interdependencies in software ecosystems influence the sustainability of open source software projects?_ To answer this question, this dissertation consists of three independent empirical studies that focus on three aspects of how technical interdependencies influence developer participation and thus contribute to the sustainability of open source projects: (1) the ability to attract developers, (2) the influences on developers' participation decision, and (3) the retention of developers in a project. This dissertation finds that OSS projects attract more developers when depending on other projects and their ability to retain developers increases with the number of shared developers with other technical interrelated projects. Furthermore, the participation decisions of developers are also positively influenced by these technical relations. Together, these studies contribute to the body of knowledge on developer participation by highlighting the role of technical interdependencies for the overall sustainability of open source projects.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD thesis)
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID ORCID Put Code Müller, Mario mariomueller@mailbox.org orcid.org/0000-0003-1794-6057 UNSPECIFIED
URN:	urn:nbn:de:hbz:38-710188
Date:	2023
Language:	English
Faculty:	Faculty of Management, Economy and Social Sciences
Divisions:	Weitere Institute, Arbeits- und Forschungsgruppen > Cologne Institute for Information Systems (CIIS)
Subjects:	Social sciences Economics Technology (Applied sciences)
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Keywords Language Information Systems UNSPECIFIED Software Development UNSPECIFIED Software Dependencies UNSPECIFIED Network Analysis UNSPECIFIED
Date of oral exam:	9 August 2023
Referee:	Name Academic Title Rosenkranz, Christoph Prof. Dr. Weinmann, Markus Prof. Dr.
Refereed:	Yes
URI:	http://kups.ub.uni-koeln.de/id/eprint/71018