Welcome? Investigating the reception of new contributors to organizational-communal open source software projects

Presenter Information

Kevin Lumbard, University of Nebraska at OmahaFollow
Anna Buhman, University of Nebraska at OmahaFollow
Gabrielle E. Wethor, University of Nebraska at OmahaFollow
Matthew Hale, University of Nebraska at OmahaFollow
Sean Goggins, University of MissouriFollow
Matt Germonprez, University of Nebraska at OmahaFollow

Paper Type

Complete

Abstract

The way new contributors are received by the established contributors in an open source project is a factor in whether they will become more regular contributors. This research examines the reception of new contributors in three open source projects to discover whether there are differences in how established contributors respond to new contributors, and if so, what those differences are. Through statistical analysis of time to first response and sentiment analysis of that response to a new contributor’s issue, we found that there is a difference in both the speed and content of responses to new contributors’ issues as opposed to those of established contributors. This difference suggests that the open source projects we observed are attentive to whether an issue was created by a new contributor and may make an effort to respond in a welcoming manner.

Recommended Citation

Lumbard, Kevin; Buhman, Anna; Wethor, Gabrielle E.; Hale, Matthew; Goggins, Sean; and Germonprez, Matt, "Welcome? Investigating the reception of new contributors to organizational-communal open source software projects" (2020). AMCIS 2020 Proceedings. 14.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/amcis2020/virtual_communities/virtual_communities/14