Abstract

Researchers have proposed that modular products lead to modular organizations. However empirical evidence today has been conflicting, and, moreover, the details of how modular products drive modular organizations have not been explored. In this study, by analyzing the structure of OSS development team, we extend prior research in three important ways: First we show that the number of modules a product has will increase the modularity in the organization. Second, the sheer size of contributors will contribute to organizational modularity. Third, we show that organizational modularity is a dynamic concept and tends to vary during different stages of the product development life cycle. Our findings have important theoretical and practical implications.

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