Abstract:
The purpose of this research was to identify factors that affect participants’
satisfaction with their experience of a free/libre open source
software (FLOSS) project. The research built on existing models of user
satisfaction from the information systems literature, and also incorporated
two characteristics of FLOSS projects first identified by Ye,
Nakakoji, Yamamoto, and Kishida (2005), product openness and process
openness. The central research question it answered was, What
factors influence participant satisfaction with a free/libre and open source
application software project?
Richard Stallman’s reasons for setting up the GNU project and the
Free Software Foundation arose from his frustration at being forced to
be a passive user of software used for a Xerox printer. These suggest
that being able to be an active participant in a FLOSS project is one
factor that should be examined, and therefore the first sub-question this
project answers is, What types of contributions do participants make to
free/libre and open source software projects?
Several studies have shown that the extent of participation in a FLOSS
project varies from individual to individual, and this variation leads to
the second sub-question, Do the factors that influence satisfaction vary for
different types of participation? If so, in what way?
A preliminary conceptual model of factors affecting participant satisfaction
was developed, reflecting the key concepts identified in the
literature. The main theoretical goal of this research was to test the
model using empirical data.
The research used a sequential, mixed methods approach. The first,
qualitative stage involved reviewing documents from selected projects
and interviewing a purposive sample of FLOSS project participants. The
second, quantitative stage involved an online survey of FLOSS project
participants, and the data gathered were used to test the conceptual
model.
The results of the first stage showed that participation in FLOSS
projects was a more complex construct than previously reported in the
literature. Seven distinct categories of activities were identified:
• use;
• interaction with code;
• supporting the community;
• outreach;
• sponsorship;
• management; and
• governance.
Four attributes that modified these categories were also identified: organisational
focus, role formality, remuneration, and time commitment.
Data from 154 responses to the online survey were used to test the
model using stepwise multiple regression, which determined the effect
of each of the variables on overall participant satisfaction. Moderated
regression analysis was used to test the effects of three potential moderating
variables. The results showed that that perceived system complexity
had the largest effect, decreasing satisfaction if respondents perceived
that the software was complex, while project openness and perceived
developer communication quality accounted for the most variance in
satisfaction.
The main theoretical contribution of this research lies in its extension
of satisfaction studies to FLOSS communities, showing that communication
and openness are more important than in conventional software
projects. Its practical contribution will help people involved in the
management and governance of FLOSS projects to identify ways of increasing
their participants’ satisfaction, which may in turn encourage
them to contribute more.
