Entrepreneurial actions and the legitimation of free/open source software services

Abstract

Free/open source software users were previously responsible for managing the challenges associated with their software themselves. Recently, a new generation of entrepreneurs seized this emerging market opportunity by positioning themselves as service providers for free/open source software users. Conceptualizing such providers as “institutional entrepreneurs,” we find that due to the nature of the free/open source software context, they exhibit a different set of legitimation actions compared with similar efforts in other contexts. Based on our empirical analysis of free/open source software service providers and drawing on prior theory, we identify two entrepreneurial actions aimed at gaining legitimacy specific to the free/open source software context, namely, product-based theorization actions and evangelization actions. We also demonstrate that institutional entrepreneurship is shaped by the nature of free/open source software products and the openness values at the core of the free/open source software movement. Our work hence underscores the importance of the context of institutional entrepreneurship.

What Open Source Software Research Can Teach Us About Public Blockchain(s)?—Lessons for Practitioners and Future Research

“…Raymond published a book titled The Cathedral and the Bazaar: Musings on Linux and Open Source by an Accidental Revolutionary. The book's goal (and other related efforts) was to enroll the twin audience of OSS enthusiasts and business managers behind the same concept and to legitimize them (Fitzgerald, 2006;Marsan et al, 2020). This goal was attained, although these discursive maneuvers also resulted in plenty of critiques, especially from preceding free software advocates (see, for example 3 , Stallman, 2002;Szczepanska et al, 2005; more recently, the discussion continues in Schlagwein et al, 2017).…”