Article ID Journal Published Year Pages File Type
351946 Computers in Human Behavior 2008 19 Pages PDF
Abstract

We explore contextual and dispositional correlates of the motivation to contribute to open source initiatives. We examine how the context of the open source project, and the personal values of contributors, are related to the types of motivations for contributing. A web-based survey was administered to 300 contributors in two prominent open source contexts: software and content. As hypothesized, software contributors placed a greater emphasis on reputation-gaining and self-development motivations, compared with content contributors, who placed a greater emphasis on altruistic motives. Furthermore, the hypothesized relationships were found between contributors’ personal values and their motivations for contributing.

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Physical Sciences and Engineering Computer Science Computer Science Applications
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