Abstract. In writings on the open source software development model, it is often argued that it is successful as a result of the gift economy that embraces activities in online communities
I N T RO D U C T I O NIn writings on open source software, it is often argued that software development is founded on gift relationships, in which pieces of code are shared in the form of gifts to the community of open source developers. Raymond (1999a), for instance, examines the open source hacker milieu as a difference between exchange cultures and gift cultures. Gift cultures differ from exchange cultures in that the latter are characterized by scarcity and the former by abundance. In gift cultures, Raymond argues, social status is determined 'not by what you control but by what you give away' (Raymond, 1999a: 99).Vaguely referring to the classic work by Mauss (1950Mauss ( /1999, Raymond catches some fundamental and important aspects of the cultural logic of gift-giving and sharing practices that are vital for the success of open source software development. However, he does not really dig into the theoretical foundations that lead to these conclusions. In this paper, we seek to develop Raymond's arguments by relating them to the work of Mauss and his followers.Info Systems J (2001) 11, 305-320 305
The diffusion of various forms of digital technologies has acted as a disrupting force in several industries, promoting open and distributed innovation processes. In this paper we argue that the supplier in open innovation networks tends to get a more active role as a creative peer producer, rather than merely a contractual deliverer. A comparative case study of the mobile phone platforms iPhone and Android is used to analyze this shift in innovative value creation. The notion of generative capacity is introduced to the research on open innovation, suggesting that it is generativity rather than openness that drives the platforms' aggregated wealth. The two cases from the mobile phone industry illustrate that innovation initiatives can successfully approach generativity in different ways and that both openness and control are important to facilitate supplier contributions.
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