Open source software: Economic and social analysis

This thesis applies social network analysis and economic theory in Information Systems research to study three issues associated with open source projects and their applications in the software industry. The first study aims to analyze the evolution of open source projects from inception to success or failure by using the theoretical lens of social network analysis. Based on extensive empirical data, we study the impact of the communication patterns of open source projects on the outcomes of these projects. In the second study, we examine the competition between proprietary and open source software by considering consumer's taste. We adopt both one-dimensional and two-dimensional Hotelling models to analyze commercial software vendors' optimal pricing and product design when competing with the open source product. In the third study, we model the competition between two profit-oriented firms, and analyze the optimal strategy of the firm that uses open source as a competing strategy.

Author dc:creator

• WU JING

• open source, social network analysis, communication patterns, competition, success