Final Thesis: Sponsors of Inner Source Contributions
Abstract: Inner source (IS) is the use of open source software development practices and the establishment of an open source-like culture within an organization. In IS, the source code for selected software components is made accessible to developers all over the organization. They can use the software for their needs and con tribute changes. Contributing to IS components benefits many parties within the organization. However, it is unclear who in the organization pays for such IS contributions and why. We contribute to the understanding of the economic models behind IS by identifying the internal sponsors of IS code contributions and their interest to pay for it. We performed four semi-structured interviews with developers and managers in an IS context and analyzed the results using thematic analysis to induct a theory of IS sponsoring. Our theory lays out which parties within the organization sponsor IS contributions in specific scenarios and their interest to do so. The thesis provides a qualitative model of IS sponsoring showing the links between consumers and suppliers towards IS communities/platforms, their interests to pay for IS code contributions in the prevailing IS scenarios and contributes to the understanding of the economic models behind IS.
Keywords: inner source
PDFs: Master Thesis, Work Description
Reference: Isabel Schröder. Sponsors of Inner Source Contributions. Master Thesis, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg: 2018.