The Impact of Anonymous Peripheral Contributions on Open Source Software Development

Abstract

Online peer production communities such as open source software (OSS) projects attract both identified and anonymous peripheral contributions (APC) (e.g., defect reports, feature requests, or forum posts). While we can attribute identified peripheral contributions (IPC) to specific individuals and OSS projects need them to succeed, one cannot trace back anonymous peripheral contributions (APC), and they can have both positive and negative ramifications for project development. Open platforms and managers face a challenging design choice in deciding whether to allow APC and for which tasks or what type of projects. We examine the impact that the ratio between APC and IPC has on OSS project performance. Our results suggest that the OSS projects perform the best when they contain a uniform anonymity level (i.e., they contain predominantly APC or predominantly IPC). However, our results also suggest that OSS projects have lower performance when the ratio between APC and IPC nears one (i.e., they contain close to the same number of APC and IPC). Furthermore, our results suggest that these results differ depending on the type of application that a project develops. Our study contributes to the ongoing debate about the implications of anonymity for online communities and informs managers about the effect that anonymous contributions have on their projects.

An empirical examination of newcomer contribution costs in established OSS communities: a knowledge-based perspective

“…Because our focus was on newcomer contributions over time, we obtained quarterly observations of our variables over a period of 30 months, starting from January 1, 2007 and ending before July 1, 2009. Although the period might seem dated, it is in accordance with similar work focused on human behavior in an OSS context. For example, Daniel et al (2020) utilized the SourceForge Research Data Archive (Van Antwerp and Madey, 2008), which includes data from SourceForge between 2003 and 2014, to study the impact of anonymous peripheral contributions on OSS community performance. Similarly, Maruping et al (2019) collected data from numerous GNOME OSS community projects between 1998 and December 2010 to study the impact of developer centrality and value congruence with the OSS community on developer commitment.…”

The Limits of Open Innovation: A Literature Review and Research Agenda

“…Identification Limitations. The abundance of individual innovators participating in an OI platform may limit the sponsoring organization's ability to keep track of each participant's contribution and responsibilities, thus losing control over OI operation [73]. Anonymous contributions are often seen in online open communities such as Wikipedia.…”

“…The OI community, like OSC, is not an exception [45]. These communities engage both identified and anonymous peripheral contributions (APC) [73]. While the sponsoring organization can track the contributions of identified peripheral contributions (IPC), it cannot trace back to the actor of an APC of a specific project.…”

“…While the sponsoring organization can track the contributions of identified peripheral contributions (IPC), it cannot trace back to the actor of an APC of a specific project. Studies have shown that it is ideal for a sponsoring organization to maintain a uniform anonymity level and a good ratio between APC and IPC [73].…”

“…[45], [73] Security Concerns Limitation in maintaining a safe and secure inbound and outbound knowledge flow and knowledge management.…”