The Effect of Project Types and Technologies on Software Developers' Efforts

Considering intrinsic valuation of software developers as the main motive for participating in open source projects, we examine the (Nash) equilibrium effort levels of the software developers in implementing projects that follow one of the three different technologies: the summation, the weakest-link, and the best-shot. Under the summation technology, developers having higher intrinsic valuation exert more effort in open source projects but all developers in commercial projects expend the same effort. Under the weakest-link technology, regardless of the types of the projects, all developers exert the same effort at equilibrium. In open source projects, the developer with the lowest intrinsic valuation has a crucial role in determining the equilibrium effort level while, in case of commercial projects, the equilibrium effort level is bounded by the net wage. Finally, under the best-shot technology, only one developer makes serious effort and the others free ride in both open source and commercial projects.