一句话：构建并检验开源开发者动机与虚拟社区感关系的理论模型，基于 Linux 内核社区调查数据。
本文关注开源软件社区中贡献者留存与可持续性问题，指出尽管已有大量关于 OSS 开发者留存的研究，但对虚拟社区感（Sense of Virtual Community, SVC）的成因理解不足。作者建立理论模型，考察 OSS 开发者动机与 SVC 之间的联系，并以 Linux 内核开发者社区为案例，收集 N=225 的数据，使用结构方程模型进行检验。结果显示，内在动机（如社会动机或享乐动机）与虚拟社区感正相关，但居住在权威主义国家以及因贡献获得报酬可能降低虚拟社区感。基于这些发现，作者为开源项目提出促进虚拟社区感、提升贡献者留存与项目可持续性的建议。
The sense of belonging to a community is a basic human need that impacts an individual's behavior, long-term engagement, and job satisfaction, as revealed by research in disciplines such as psychology, healthcare, and education. Despite much research on how to retain developers in Open Source Software (OSS) projects and other virtual, peer-production communities, there is a paucity of research investigating what might contribute to a sense of belonging in these communities. To that end, we develop a theoretical model that seeks to understand the link between OSS developer motives and a Sense of Virtual Community (SVC). We test the model with a dataset collected in the Linux Kernel developer community (N=225), using structural equation modeling techniques. Our results for this case study show that intrinsic motivations (social or hedonic motives) are positively associated with a sense of virtual community, but living in an authoritative country and being paid to contribute can reduce the sense of virtual community. Based on these results, we offer suggestions for open source projects to foster a sense of virtual community, with a view to retaining contributors and Improving projects' sustainability.
DOI 原文 · arXiv · PDF（开放获取） · DBLP
@inproceedings{abs-2301-06437,
title = {Do I Belong? Modeling Sense of Virtual Community Among Linux Kernel Contributors},
author = {Bianca Trinkenreich and Klaas-Jan Stol and Anita Sarma and Daniel M. German and Marco A. Gerosa and Igor Steinmacher},
booktitle = {ICSE},
year = {2023},
doi = {10.1109/icse48619.2023.00038}
}