CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS FOR OPEN-SOURCE INNOVATION: THE CASE OF OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT

Abstract

With the advances in information technology (IT), open-source innovation (OSI) plays an increasingly important role for virtual teams to engage in online innovative activities .Based on the theory of knowledge creation, this study builds a theoretical framework to examine the critical success factors of OSI. It is argued that, to achieve OSI success, virtual teams need to go through an iterative process of ITenabled and community-based knowledge creation, and correspondingly four critical success factors are identified for the success of OSI: strong knowledge base, intensive team communication, abundant social capital, and effective use of IT artifacts. The proposed framework is further tested using the open source software development dataset. The results strongly support the framework, and bear important implications on the success of OSI.