0000000000798011
AUTHOR
Bjørn-tore Flåten
Balancing on a tightrope: Managing the boundaries of a firm-sponsored OSS community and its impact on innovation and absorptive capacity
Realizing the innovation potential of OSS communities, firms now create or sponsor their own open source software (OSS) communities, generally as part of an open innovation strategy. However, maximizing the innovation capability of a sponsored OSS community is a challenging task since firms cannot rely on traditional hierarchical authority to control community members. Furthermore, a firm's efforts to manage its sponsored community may also impact the firm's absorptive capacity, or its ability to effectively absorb and leverage the valuable knowledge created by the community. Thus, the purpose of this article is to investigate two research questions: 1) How does the boundary management of a…
Crowdfunding Education: Objectives, Content, Pedagogy, and Assessment
AbstractDespite its rapid growth, little attention has been given to education and training in crowdfunding. Such training is important for ensuring the healthy and ethical development of the crowdfunding industry by educating the public about the challenges and risks as well as the merits and benefits of crowdfunding. While many may have heard the term ‘crowdfunding’, it often remains poorly understood by the larger public. Hence, this chapter argues the need for crowdfunding dedicated education programmes, while presenting a concrete course programme based on the Crowdfunding Lab developed at the University of Agder in Norway. The Crowdfunding Lab is to our knowledge one of the first univ…
Introduction : From Fundamentals to Advances in Crowdfunding Research and Practice
AbstractThe chapter introduces the phenomenon of crowdfunding while presenting its definition and main manifestations in recent years. It then discusses the roles played by the various parties to a crowdfunding transaction, as well as the benefits each may gain from such engagement. Overall, it argues for a win-win situation, where all parties become better off from involvement in a responsible crowdfunding engagement. Furthermore, the chapter highlights the process dimension of crowdfunding, as represented through a series of three main stages, which are further specified into a seven sub-stage model. Each stage in the process depends on successful completion of the stage preceding it and …
The Future of Crowdfunding Research and Practice
AbstractThis chapter critically reflects on current crowdfunding research and practice while highlighting eight dilemmas that are expected to shape the future of crowdfunding. Each dilemma is critically discussed and is followed by relevant suggestions for future research. These dilemmas include: (1) the balance between idealism and pragmatism; (2) the extent of cooperation between crowdfunding platforms and traditional financial institutions; (3) measurement of crowdfunding success and performance in financial and socio-economic terms; (4) the balance between quantity and quality in campaigns approved for publication by platforms; (5) domestic versus international growth of crowdfunding pl…
Digital knowledge sharing and creative performance: Work from home during the COVID-19 pandemic
Abstract The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting social distancing requirements have led to major disruptions in the world of work. The outcomes of the enforced and large-scale work from home (WFH) practices are currently largely unexplored. This study aims to address this gap in the research by investigating the external and internal digital knowledge sharing (DKS) and creative performance (CP) of employees under these extraordinary circumstances. The social capital theory was utilized as the theoretical lens for examining the associations of DKS and CP with demographic, individual, and organizational factors. An online cross-sectional survey was carried out among knowledge…
Competitive firms in thin regions in Norway: The importance of workplace learning
The article departs from empirical studies of two competitive firms in an organisationally thin region in Norway. The main question in the article is how these firms have achieved global competitiveness. The article focuses its inquiry on how the firms organise their innovation activity, giving special attention to the firms' organisational learning and absorptive capacity. It is found that find that workplace learning enables the firms to utilise knowledge in uncommon ways. The learning rests on specific organisational traits in the firms, such as broad participation, long-term on-the-job training, the use of practice-based knowledge in innovation projects, and links to national and global…