Community Growth Model in Different Profit-Seeking Contexts: A Comparative Case Study of RepRap and Ultimaker
Name
v008t08a028-detc2020-22759.pdf
Description
Published version
Size
2.48 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
c2b4a07ea83d6929b341e26cbc156857
Author(s)
Li, Zhuoxuan
Yang, Maria
Seering, Warren
Date Issued
2020
Journal
Proceedings of the ASME Design Engineering Technical Conference
Publisher
ASME International
Citation
Li, Zhuoxuan, Yang, Maria and Seering, Warren. 2020. "Community Growth Model in Different Profit-Seeking Contexts: A Comparative Case Study of RepRap and Ultimaker." Proceedings of the ASME Design Engineering Technical Conference, 8.
Version
Final published version
Abstract
© 2020 American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). All rights reserved. The engagement of an online user community has been reported to be critical in the success of open design projects. However, most studies don't consider the financial organizational contexts of their samples. Grounded in comparative case studies of the two biggest 3D printer communities - one supported by volunteers, another by a commercial firm, the paper contributes to the open design and open hardware literature with a typology of user community actions. We measured the types and intensity of different user community activities over time for the two cases. Results confirm that user community activities behave differently in profitseeking or non-profit-seeking organizational contexts. We grounded potential causes through management team interviews as well as existing research theories. We conclude that the forprofit organizational context is associated with a difference in the design maturation process and the evolution of organizational openness.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering
Terms of Use
Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use.
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1115/DETC2020-22759
