What makes a good contributor? Understanding contributor behavior within large Free/Open Source Software projects – A socialization perspective

Abstract

Attracting new contributors is a necessary but not a sufficient condition, to ensure the survival and long-term success of Free/Open Source Software (FOSS) projects. The well-being of a FOSS project depends on the turning of project newcomers into ‘good contributors’ that is to say into individuals that substantially contribute to the project - but also that perform citizenship behaviors that protect and nurture its community. This study is a mixed-methods investigation of the socialization factors that influence contributor performance in large FOSS projects. A qualitative research component resulted into the development of a FOSS socialization framework as well as into the identification of key FOSS project citizenship behaviors. A conceptual model was then developed and empirically examined with 367 contributors from 12 large FOSS projects. The model hypothesizes the mediating effect of two proximal socialization variables, social identification and social integration, between FOSS newcomer socialization factors and contributor performance (conceptualized as task performance and community citizenship behaviors). The results demonstrate the influence of social identification and social integration in predicting contributor performance, as well as the importance of key socialization factors that are: task segregation, task purposefulness, interaction intensity, and supportiveness. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.