Impact on Open Source Software Performance: A View from Social Structure

Open source software (OSS) has drawn increasing attention from both practitioners and researchers in recent years. However, few empirical studies have investigated the interaction process of OSS teams during OSS development. This research has two primary objectives. The first is to study the social structure of OSS teams. The second is to investigate the factors impacting the social structure of OSS teams as well as the effects of the social structure on OSS performance. Based on the social structure and social network theory, and group-related theories, this paper first presented a general research framework, then discussed research methodology, and finally describes a two-phase study plan. By exploring the relationships between group characteristics, social network, and OSS performance, the study contributes to the enhancement of knowledge on OSS development from the social structure perspective.