Joseph Feller

Open innovation and public administration: transformational typologies and business model impacts

Extant research demonstrates that e-Government initiatives often fall short of achieving innovative forms of government and governance due to a techno-centric focus that limits such initiatives to minor improvements in service delivery. While it is evident that innovation is central to modernising and transforming governmental organisations, and that the co-creation of services by public authorities and community groups is an essential component of realising the benefits of investment in information and communication technology, there is little research focusing on the nature of innovation in transforming governmental organisations and services. Addressing this gap in the literature, this paper explores how open innovation strategies can transform public administration by examining how a network of municipalities in Sweden transforms value creation and service delivery by collaborating with each other and with external parties to accelerate the creation and exploitation of innovation. Using a case study with embedded units of analysis, four emerging typologies of governmental transformation based on open innovation are identified. The paper illustrates how these open innovation typologies (i) transform the organisation of the municipalities and (ii) help them deliver high quality co-created services to citizens. By examining the strategic and operational aspects that facilitate such activities, the analysis reveals the impact of open innovation on the business models of public authorities. The paper concludes that open innovation practices represent a more radical manifestation of transformational government than previously envisaged; signalling not only fundamental change in the nature of value creation and service delivery by public authorities, but potentially in the nature of their organisation.

From Peer Production to Productization: A Study of Socially Enabled Business Exchanges in Open Source Service Networks

Peer production phenomena such as open source software (OSS) have been posited as a viable alternative to traditional production models. However, community-based development often falls short of creating software “products” in the sense that consumers understand. Our research identifies an emerging business network archetype in the OSS sector, the open source service network (OSSN), which seeks to address the “productization” challenge. To do so, OSSNs must overcome the problems associated with exchanging resources between firms. We demonstrate that OSSNs overcome exchange problems by primarily relying on social, rather than legal, mechanisms; similar to the OSS communities from which they emerged. This is made possible because OSSNs use IT infrastructures that provide high visibility for primary value-creating activities. The research utilizes a multimethod theory-building approach, deriving a model from extant research, refining the model through qualitative case study analysis, and further refining the...

Exploring value networks: theorising the creation and capture of value with open source software

The emergence of open source software (OSS) as a form of peer production and innovation challenges theories of organisation and strategy due to its non-reliance on traditional governance mechanisms to organise production. OSS requires firms to rethink the processes that facilitate value creation and capture. The objective of this paper is to theorise how firms create and capture value from OSS. We derive a model from extant research and refine it through the study of three inter-organisational networks. The findings reveal how a firms ability to access a value network of complementors is crucial for effective value creation and capture. Two types of networks are evident: a high-density network of familiar partners and a low-density network of multiple, often unfamiliar, partners. Leveraging these networks depends on the level of commitment, volume of knowledge exchange and the alignment of objectives among participant firms. Effective governance is revealed as critical for creating and capturing value within both types of network; and depends on both formal and informal mechanisms.

Delivering the Whole Product: Business Model Impacts and Agility Challenges in a Network of Open Source Firms

It has been argued that competitive necessities will increasingly require OSS companies to participate in cooperative business networks in order to offer the complete product/service (whole product) demanded by customers. It is envisaged that these business networks will enhance the business models of participant firms by supplementing their value-adding activities and increasing responsiveness to customers. However, while such propositions have intuitive appeal, there is a lack of empirical research on such networks. This article examines Zea Partners, a network of small open source companies cooperating to deliver the ‘whole product’ in the area of content management systems (CMSs). It investigates how participation in the network augments the business models of participant companies and identifies the business agility challenges faced by the network. The article concludes that reconciling the coordination needs of OSS networks with the operational practices of participant firms is a critical issue if such networks are to achieve adaptive efficiency to deliver whole products in a ‘bazaar-friendly’ manner.

Developing Open Source Software: A Community-Based Analysis of Research

Open source software (OSS) creates the potential for the inclusion of large and diverse communities in every aspect of the software development and consumption life cycle. However, despite 6 years of effort by an ever growing research community, we still don’t know exactly what we do and don’t know about OSS, nor do we have a clear idea about the basis for our knowledge. This paper presents an analysis of 155 research artefacts in the area of open source software. The purpose of the study is to identify the kinds of open source project communities that have been researched, the kinds of research questions that have been asked, and the methodologies used by researchers. Emerging from the study is a clearer understanding of what we do and don’t know about open source software, and recommendations for future research efforts

Does Heart or Head Rule Donor Behaviors in Charitable Crowdfunding Markets

ABSTRACT Crowdfunding has matured into a meaningful online marketplace, both for traditional e-commerce activities and for charitable fundraising. For charities, crowdfunding presents novel donation behaviors, including those where donors may proactively seek out causes and give (often anonymously) to help others with whom they share little social connectivity. Understanding these behaviors is challenging compared to traditional fundraising behaviors, where charitable giving is partly explained by factors such as guilt avoidance, reciprocity, image, vicarious enjoyment, and group-level benefits. This suggests that some subset of charitable motivations is brought uniquely into focus in crowdfunding marketplaces. These marketplaces are often inhabited by fundseeking individuals and larger formal organizations. This adds further complexity, given that donors traditionally perceive and interact differently with charitable organizations and less formal fundraising entities. This study explores donation behavior in charitable crowdfunding based on the distinction between “pure altruism” and “warm glow” motivations. We offer a discriminatory model of donation behaviors toward individuals and organizations, which is then tested in a large-scale field study of Razoo.com. Findings suggest that donations to organizations are more influenced by outcome-related factors, such as fundraising targets and the likelihood of meeting that target, while donations to individuals are more influenced by interaction-related factors, such as the level of dialogue around a campaign.

Thoughts on Studying Open Source Software Communities

This speculative paper offers a preliminary discussion of the academic study of open source software (OSS) communities. The paper includes (1) a description of the general growth of OSS research, (2) the argument that an understanding of OSS communities is critical to understanding OSS, (3) a review of the research to date which approaches OSS from a social or ethnographic viewpoint, and (4) an examination of one of the key issues to be addressed in future research on the subject.

Social media as a support for learning in universities: an empirical study of Facebook Groups

Abstract This paper explores social media use for learning in universities, through a study of the use of Facebook Groups by undergraduate students. The objective of the research is specifically to understand what motivates students to use Facebook Groups and what benefits they receive from doing so. The study is grounded in the Guo et al. (2012) Student Technology Use Hierarchical Framework (STUH), drawn from Uses and Gratifications Theory (U&G), and from Means End Chain Theory (MEC). The STUH Framework was adapted by this research, and validated and revised through survey research to create an amended STUH framework for Facebook Groups. The findings conclude that the attributes of Facebook Groups lead to interaction which in turn satisfies the higher level information and decision making needs of students. The findings have important implications for software designers and educators, as well as for researchers interested in using social networking software for learning. Overall, a better understanding of student motivations is critical to the successful implementation of such technologies in the educational arena.

Governance Structures for Open Innovation: A Preliminary Framework

This research-in-progress paper presents a preliminary framework of four open innovation governance structures. The study seeks to describe four distinct ways in which firms utilize hierarchical relationships, organizational intermediaries, and the market system to supply and acquire intellectual property and/or innovation capabilities from sources external to the firm. This paper reports on phase one of the study, which involved an analysis of six open innovation exemplars based on public data. This phase of the study reveals that governance structures for open innovation can be categorized based on whether they (1) are mediated or direct or (2) seek to acquire intellectual property or innovation capability. We analyze the differences in four governance structures along seven dimensions, and reveal the importance of knowledge dispersion and uncertainty to the use of open innovation hierarchies, brokerages, and markets. The paper concludes by examining the implications of the findings and outlining the next phase of the study.

“Openness” with and without Information Technology: a framework and a brief history

Over the past two decades, openness (e.g. ‘open’ innovation, ‘open’ education and ‘open’ strategy) has been of increasing interest for researchers and of increasing relevance to practitioners. Openness is often deeply embedded in information technology (IT) and can be both a driver for and a result of innovative IT. To clarify the concept of “openness”, we provide an overview of the scope of cross-disciplinary research on openness. Based on this overview, we develop a framework of openness, which proposes a higher-order concept of “openness” characterised by transparency, access, participation and democracy. The framework further distinguishes open resources, open processes and the effects of opening on particular domains. To provide the historical context and to appreciate the role of IT in openness, we discuss two historical examples of openness: the introduction of an open science model in academia (openness without IT) and the emergence of open source software development (openness with IT). We conclude by highlighting some concerns with and limitations of “openness”.