Not Accidental Revolutionaries: Essays on Open Source Software Production and Organizational Change

Abstract
Open Source Software research has established that OSS technology (tools and practices)
holds untapped potential. Based on a systematic literature review and a research engagement
over a three-year period of data gathering, my dissertation describes how organizations
leverage OSS practices to produce software. Leveraging OSS can be divided into two
processes: 1) inbounding (moving public assets inside a company) and 2) outbounding
(publishing) OSS. I outline the structural consequences these changes in software production
entail and provoke. My research question is: What is the relation between local renegotiation
of the term OSS and the organizational change provoked by OSS technology?
I chose a qualitative approach to examine the case companies, informed by
OSS research and institutional theory. The bulk of the data emerges from the industrial
ITEA-COSI project, which focused on software commodification. I aim to provide a narrative
of how the term OSS travels from the writings of enthusiasts to the daily work practices of
software producing organizations. The findings underline the importance of local
renegotiation of the term OSS. This renegotiation provokes structural changes in 1) the
organizations that adopt OSS technology, but more widely also in 2) the industries these
companies operate in.
The main contribution of this research thesis, reported in four essays, is directed at two
audiences: first, at academics, to promote the idea that OSS in organizations should be
researched in a sensitivized manner. This requires moving away from too simplistic
institutional contexts and ”the OSS business model”. Second, it is directed at practitioners, to
reduce uncertainty about the adoption of OSS technology and to help build a capacity to
accept, search for, motivate and reward contribution.

http://helecon3.hkkk.fi/pdf/diss/Aalto_DD_2011_013.pdf