Summary

“Understanding the Motivations,

Participation, and Performance of OSS
Developers” – Study of Apache Projects
Roberts et al.
September 2009
Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Dissertation Seminar

Pedro Adão da Fonseca

Main Research Theme
• Understanding:
▫ What motivates participation?
▫ How different motivations are interrelated?
▫ How these influence participation and performance?
▫ How past performance influences subsequente
motivations?

• “OSS communities cannot exist or prosper without

the contributions of highly motivated developers
(…)”
Theoretical Framework • Interrelation of Motivations
• Independent
• Complementary
• Contradictory

•Intrinsic Motivations
• Satisfaction of Basic Human
Needs (competence, control,
autonomy)

•Extrinsic Motivations
• “External to the Task and is
usually applied by someone other
than the person being motivated”
(ex: being paid to contribute)

•Internalized Extrinsic Motivations

• When individuals make
otherwise extrinsic motivations
their own. E.g.: Status and Career
Opportunities
Analysis and Results
• Analysis:
▫ Examined the Relationship between different OSS motivations in the
Community
 13 Hypotheses
▫ Data Collection from Survey Apache Projects.
288 Developers (out of 1,301 requests)

• Results
1. Contributors have multiple motivations (some complementary) to
participate in OSS projects
2. Not all motivations affect OSS participation equally
3. Apache meritocracy promotes contributions effectively
4. Past-Performance rankings enhance some motivations for participating
Other Conclusions
• Also concluded that;
▫ OSS Communities should welcome commercial efforts by
companies
▫ Developers with higher Status motivations appear to contribute
more
▫ Feedback system would increase past-performance and status
motivations

• Positive Aspects of Study;

▫ Data collected over 4-year period
▫ Numerical Approach and hindsight into suggestions on
improvements to OSS communities

• Limitations of study;
▫ Sample size and focus on Apache OSS Community
▫ Other Psychological motivations: Obligation to Participate
Please read for more information…