Co-membership, networks ties, and knowledge flow: An empirical investigation controlling for alternative mechanisms

Abstract

Co-membership has been considered as a major mechanism for knowledge flow. However, alternative mechanisms exist for the observed knowledge flow. One of the effective ways to reduce the possibility of alternative mechanisms is to make use of online settings. However, even at online settings, individuals can still directly watch and learn from each other, resulting in knowledge flow. This study investigates the impact of co-membership under the unique context of open source software (OSS) development at GitHub. It finds that both co-membership and watching are effective for knowledge flow, which further increases OSS development technical success, measured as project commits. Moreover, the impact of co-membership is much stronger than watching. While co-membership is indeed an effective mechanism for knowledge flow, its impact tends to be biased without controlling for alternative mechanisms.