Title: Knowledge sharing in open source mobile applications project

Authors: Andree E. Widjaja; Jengchung Victor Chen; Quang-An Ha; Binshan Lin

Addresses: Department of Information Systems, Faculty of Computer Science, Pelita Harapan University, 1100 M.H. Thamrin Boulevard, Lippo Village, Tangerang 15811, Indonesia ' Institute of International Management, National Cheng Kung University, 1 University Road, 701 Tainan, Taiwan ' Institute of International Management, National Cheng Kung University, 1 University Road, 701 Tainan, Taiwan ' Business School, Louisiana State University in Shreveport, 1 University Pl, Shreveport, LA 71115, USA

Abstract: The very rapid adoption of mobile devices has attracted Open Source Mobile Application (OSMA) developers to create OSMAs and deliver them to the market. However, the majority of mobile communication studies have examined mobile applications from the end-users' perspective, and relatively little is known from the developers' side. As such, this research aims to investigate the developers' knowledge sharing behaviours within the context of OSMA development project. Drawing from social capital theory and the team cognition literature, the present study developed a research framework that viewed OSMA development project as involving both a virtual community and virtual team. We found that some dimensions of social capital and team cognition positively affect knowledge sharing. Meanwhile, social capital is found to positively influence team cognition. The implications and contributions of this study to the literature are discussed in the article.

Keywords: identification; knowledge sharing; open source mobile applications; project development; shared vision; social capital; social interaction; team cognition; trust; virtual communities; virtual teams; open source apps; mobile apps; mobile communications; app developers.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMC.2017.083464

International Journal of Mobile Communications, 2017 Vol.15 No.3, pp.306 - 328

Received: 18 Apr 2015
Accepted: 03 Jun 2016
Published online: 31 Mar 2017 *

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