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Paper Type

ERF

Abstract

Firms invest in digital innovation to strategically allocate IT resources and enhance business performance. Information diffusion is crucial in facilitating knowledge acquisition and innovation. Developers engage in open-source software(OSS) communities, enabling knowledge diffusion across firms. Despite extensive research on digital innovation's strategic direction, often grounded in the Upper Echelons Theory emphasizing top-level managers' influence, the impact of social interactions among developers remains understudied. Drawing upon the heterogeneous diffusion model, we propose that the social connections among developers impact the knowledge diffusion among their firms. We construct two networks based on social connections among Blockchain developers on GitHub and Blockchain-related technology patent citation data from USPTO. This empirical study enriches social network analysis literature by addressing the challenges in predicting the ties of firms' network using an individual social network. It offers practical suggestions for firms to maintain strategic agility by being alert to peer firms' innovation directions.

Paper Number

1269

Author Connect URL

https://authorconnect.aisnet.org/conferences/AMCIS2024/papers/1269

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Aug 16th, 12:00 AM

Strategic Directions for Digital Innovation: The Role of Developers' Social Interaction within Open Source Software Platforms

Firms invest in digital innovation to strategically allocate IT resources and enhance business performance. Information diffusion is crucial in facilitating knowledge acquisition and innovation. Developers engage in open-source software(OSS) communities, enabling knowledge diffusion across firms. Despite extensive research on digital innovation's strategic direction, often grounded in the Upper Echelons Theory emphasizing top-level managers' influence, the impact of social interactions among developers remains understudied. Drawing upon the heterogeneous diffusion model, we propose that the social connections among developers impact the knowledge diffusion among their firms. We construct two networks based on social connections among Blockchain developers on GitHub and Blockchain-related technology patent citation data from USPTO. This empirical study enriches social network analysis literature by addressing the challenges in predicting the ties of firms' network using an individual social network. It offers practical suggestions for firms to maintain strategic agility by being alert to peer firms' innovation directions.

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