{"title":"作为公共利益的职业关注:开放源代码软件开发的信号作用","authors":"Lena Abou El-Komboz, Moritz Goldbeck","doi":"10.1016/j.labeco.2025.102800","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Why do developers contribute to open-source software (OSS), a public good? We study OSS activity of some 22,900 developers on the largest online code repository platform, <em>GitHub</em>, and find evidence in favor of career concerns as a motivation. Our difference-in-differences model leverages temporal variation in signaling incentives to identify OSS activity driven by career concerns. We find that OSS activity of users who move for a job is significantly elevated in the job search period. This effect is driven by projects increasing external visibility and written in programming languages highly valued in the labor market, but with a lower direct use-value for the community.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48153,"journal":{"name":"Labour Economics","volume":"97 ","pages":"Article 102800"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6000,"publicationDate":"2025-09-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":"{\"title\":\"Career concerns as public good: The role of signaling for open source software development\",\"authors\":\"Lena Abou El-Komboz, Moritz Goldbeck\",\"doi\":\"10.1016/j.labeco.2025.102800\",\"DOIUrl\":null,\"url\":null,\"abstract\":\"<div><div>Why do developers contribute to open-source software (OSS), a public good? We study OSS activity of some 22,900 developers on the largest online code repository platform, <em>GitHub</em>, and find evidence in favor of career concerns as a motivation. Our difference-in-differences model leverages temporal variation in signaling incentives to identify OSS activity driven by career concerns. We find that OSS activity of users who move for a job is significantly elevated in the job search period. This effect is driven by projects increasing external visibility and written in programming languages highly valued in the labor market, but with a lower direct use-value for the community.</div></div>\",\"PeriodicalId\":48153,\"journal\":{\"name\":\"Labour Economics\",\"volume\":\"97 \",\"pages\":\"Article 102800\"},\"PeriodicalIF\":2.6000,\"publicationDate\":\"2025-09-11\",\"publicationTypes\":\"Journal Article\",\"fieldsOfStudy\":null,\"isOpenAccess\":false,\"openAccessPdf\":\"\",\"citationCount\":\"0\",\"resultStr\":null,\"platform\":\"Semanticscholar\",\"paperid\":null,\"PeriodicalName\":\"Labour Economics\",\"FirstCategoryId\":\"96\",\"ListUrlMain\":\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0927537125001241\",\"RegionNum\":2,\"RegionCategory\":\"经济学\",\"ArticlePicture\":[],\"TitleCN\":null,\"AbstractTextCN\":null,\"PMCID\":null,\"EPubDate\":\"\",\"PubModel\":\"\",\"JCR\":\"Q2\",\"JCRName\":\"ECONOMICS\",\"Score\":null,\"Total\":0}","platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Labour Economics","FirstCategoryId":"96","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0927537125001241","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"ECONOMICS","Score":null,"Total":0}
Career concerns as public good: The role of signaling for open source software development
Why do developers contribute to open-source software (OSS), a public good? We study OSS activity of some 22,900 developers on the largest online code repository platform, GitHub, and find evidence in favor of career concerns as a motivation. Our difference-in-differences model leverages temporal variation in signaling incentives to identify OSS activity driven by career concerns. We find that OSS activity of users who move for a job is significantly elevated in the job search period. This effect is driven by projects increasing external visibility and written in programming languages highly valued in the labor market, but with a lower direct use-value for the community.
期刊介绍:
Labour Economics is devoted to publishing research in the field of labour economics both on the microeconomic and on the macroeconomic level, in a balanced mix of theory, empirical testing and policy applications. It gives due recognition to analysis and explanation of institutional arrangements of national labour markets and the impact of these institutions on labour market outcomes.