María Del Carmen Díaz-Fernández

Current issues and research trends on open-source software communities

Open source software (OSS) projects represent a new paradigm of software creation and development based on hundreds or even thousands of developers and users organised in the form of a virtual community. The success of an OSS project is closely linked to the successful organisation and development of the virtual community of support group. This paper reviews different fields and research topics related to the OSS communities such as collective intelligence, the structure of OSS communities, their success, communities as virtual organisations, motivation, shared knowledge, innovation and learning. The main challenges, results obtained, and the knowledge areas are detailed for each topic.

Identification of new added value services on intelligent transportation systems

The evolution of electronics and the growing capabilities of in-vehicle and public infrastructure equipment make feasible the development of new value-added services in the field of intelligent transportation systems (ITS). However, initiatives in this sense frequently failed due to the lack of agreement or coordination among service providers, public authorities and final users. This article proposes a scientific method based on concept mapping techniques to extract these value-added services. The main benefit of the proposed methodology is its ability to take into account the different points of view of the main actors involved in the transportation field. Obtained results will provide the general guidelines for future ITS services.

Top management demographic characteristics and company performance

Purpose – The importance of the performance of a firm and the essential role played by the management in their accomplishment has been discussed and recognised by many researchers from Drucker to Upper Echelon Theory. Nonetheless, currently, anybody has been able to determine the precious and reliable parameters which let the firm achieve required-level performance. The confusion around this objective is still sufficient and the controversial has being growing widely over time, being the findings achieved contradictory, insufficient, imprecise and unreliable. Regarding the demographical literature findings focus on the premises previous related to Upper Echelon Theory. The purpose of this paper is to go further and try to test how, not only the level, but also the diversity of constructs like top management teams (TMT)s demographic characteristics influence the firm performance accomplished by the managers by applying a Hierarchical Linear Regression Model. Design/methodology/approach – Based on primary ...

RELATION BETWEEN BACKGROUND VARIABLES, VALUES AND CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

Consumer perception of corporate social responsibility (CSR) can be directly influenced by individual value structures. This research aims to provide new knowledge regarding the relationship between basic human values and the publics perception of CSR. It focuses on the values of higher education students and their views regarding a particular corporate social initiative. The study reveals that social, educational, and economic circumstances influence human values. Those values in turn influence why different students perceive CSR differently. These findings are relevant to companies as they provide a more detailed understanding of why certain consumer groups perceive certain CSR initiatives the way that they do. They also suggest that universities should increase their awareness of the importance of integrating human values and CSR in the curricula of future business managers and social leaders.Consumer perception of corporate social responsibility (CSR) can be directly influenced by individual value structures. This research aims to provide new knowledge regarding the relationship between basic human values and the public’s perception of CSR. It focuses on the values of higher education students and their views regarding a particular corporate social initiative. The study reveals that social, educational, and economic circumstances influence human values. Those values in turn influence why different students perceive CSR differently. These findings are relevant to companies as they provide a more detailed understanding of why certain consumer groups perceive certain CSR initiatives the way that they do. They also suggest that universities should increase their awareness of the importance of integrating human values and CSR in the curricula of future business managers and social leaders

Relación entre las variables contextuales, los valores y la responsabilidad social corporativa

Consumer perception of corporate social responsibility (CSR) can be directly influenced by individual value structures. This research aims to provide new knowledge regarding the relationship between basic human values and the publics perception of CSR. It focuses on the values of higher education students and their views regarding a particular corporate social initiative. The study reveals that social, educational, and economic circumstances influence human values. Those values in turn influence why different students perceive CSR differently. These findings are relevant to companies as they provide a more detailed understanding of why certain consumer groups perceive certain CSR initiatives the way that they do. They also suggest that universities should increase their awareness of the importance of integrating human values and CSR in the curricula of future business managers and social leaders.Consumer perception of corporate social responsibility (CSR) can be directly influenced by individual value structures. This research aims to provide new knowledge regarding the relationship between basic human values and the public’s perception of CSR. It focuses on the values of higher education students and their views regarding a particular corporate social initiative. The study reveals that social, educational, and economic circumstances influence human values. Those values in turn influence why different students perceive CSR differently. These findings are relevant to companies as they provide a more detailed understanding of why certain consumer groups perceive certain CSR initiatives the way that they do. They also suggest that universities should increase their awareness of the importance of integrating human values and CSR in the curricula of future business managers and social leaders

Topological Properties of the Core Group in Online Communities

Online communities are self-organized networks with a clear core-periphery structure, where most of the contributions are due to a small group of users known as the core group. Although several methods for detecting the core-periphery structure have been proposed, all of them assume a pre-defined structure of the core group. However, online communities exhibit a wide variety of organizations and shapes, and the patterns of behavior of the core group is continuously changing. This paper investigates the relationship between the global parameters of the community and those of the core group. Findings reveal that the behavior of the core group determines the global structure of the community and therefore, the identification of the core group should consider the global characteristics of the network in which they are contributing.