Workflow Automation in Open-Source Software Development: Accelerating Innovation Through Mechanization and Orchestration
Published Online:12 Jan 2026https://doi.org/10.1287/isre.2024.1551
References
- (2023) When should you adjust standard errors for clustering? Quart. J. Econom. 138(1):1–35.Crossref, Google Scholar
- (2019) Automation and new tasks: How technology displaces and reinstates labor. J. Econom. Perspective 33(2):3–30.Crossref, Google Scholar
- (2023) Human vs. automated sales agents: How and why customer responses shift across sales stages. Inform. Systems Res. 34(3):1148–1168.Link, Google Scholar
- (2023) Value of algorithm-enabled process innovation: The case of sepsis. Manufacturing Service Oper. Management 25(4):1545–1566.Link, Google Scholar
- (2005) Open source: Concepts, benefits, and challenges. Comm. Assoc. Inform. Systems 16(1):756–784.Google Scholar
- (1988) A model of creativity and innovation in organizations. Res. Organ. Behav. 10(1):123–167.Google Scholar
- (2009) Mostly Harmless Econometrics: An Empiricist’s Companion, 1st ed. (Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ).Crossref, Google Scholar
- (2023) “Collaborating” with AI: Taking a system view to explore the future of work. Organ. Sci. 34(5):1672–1694.Link, Google Scholar
- (2021) Matrix completion methods for causal panel data models. J. Amer. Statist. Assoc. 116(536):1716–1730.Crossref, Google Scholar
- (1991) A model to evaluate variables impacting the productivity of software maintenance projects. Management Sci. 37(1):1–18.Link, Google Scholar
- (2018) Monetizing freemium communities: Does paying for premium increase social engagement? MIS Quart. 42(3):719–736.Crossref, Google Scholar
- (2002) Research commentary: Workflow management issues in e-business. Inform. Systems Res. 13(1):1–14.Link, Google Scholar
- (2019) Get with the program: Software-driven innovation in traditional manufacturing. Management Sci. 65(2):541–558.Link, Google Scholar
- (2023) The turing trap: The promise & peril of human-like artificial intelligence. Augmented Education in the Global Age (Routledge, New York), 103–116.Google Scholar
- (2005) Industry clockspeed and the pace of new product development. Production Oper. Management 14(2):125–141.Crossref, Google Scholar
- (2024) Large language model in creative work: The role of collaboration modality and user expertise. Management Sci. 70(12):9101–9117.Link, Google Scholar
- (2022) Flourish or perish? The impact of technological acquisitions on contributions to open-source software. Inform. Systems Res. 33(3):867–886.Link, Google Scholar
- (1997) A coordination theory approach to organizational process design. Organ. Sci. 8(2):157–175.Link, Google Scholar
- (2024) The effects of generative AI on high skilled work: Evidence from three field experiments with software developers. Preprint, submitted September 5, http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4945566.Google Scholar
- (2018) GitHub Actions: Built by you, run by us. https://github.blog/enterprise-software/automation/action-demos/.Google Scholar
- (1993) Process Innovation: Reengineering Work through Information Technology (Harvard Business School Press, Boston).Google Scholar
- (1986) The adoption of radical and incremental innovations: An empirical analysis. Management Sci. 32(11):1422–1433.Link, Google Scholar
- (2006) Orchestrating innovation networks. Acad. Management Rev. 31(3):659–669.Crossref, Google Scholar
- (2024) Generative AI enhances individual creativity but reduces the collective diversity of novel content. Sci. Adv. 10(28):eadn5290.Crossref, Google Scholar
- (2020) CodeBERT: A pre-trained model for programming and natural languages. Cohn T, He Y, Liu Y, eds. Findings of the Association for Computational Linguistics: EMNLP 2020 (Association for Computational Linguistics, Stroudsburg, PA), 1536–1547.Crossref, Google Scholar
- (2011) Direct and indirect knowledge spillovers: The “social network” of open-source projects. RAND J. Econom. 42(1):70–91.Crossref, Google Scholar
- (2014) Digital innovation as a fundamental and powerful concept in the information systems curriculum. MIS Quart. 38(2):329–354.Crossref, Google Scholar
- (2019) GitHub Actions now supports CI/CD, free for public repositories. https://github.blog/news-insights/product-news/github-actions-now-supports-ci-cd/.Google Scholar
- (2002) A Critical look at technological innovation typology and innovativeness terminology: A literature review. J. Production Innovation Management 19(2):110–132.Crossref, Google Scholar
- (1995) An overview of workflow management: From process modeling to workflow automation infrastructure. Distribution Parallel Databases 3(2):119–153.Crossref, Google Scholar
- (2021) GitHub and OpenAI launch a new AI tool that generates its own code, Accessed December 19, 2025, https://www.theverge.com/2021/6/29/22555777/github-openai-ai-tool-autocomplete-code.Google Scholar
- (2024) Automation enables specialization: Field evidence. Management Sci. 70(3):1580–1595.Link, Google Scholar
- Google DeepMind (2024) Gemma 2: Improving open language models at a practical size. Preprint, submitted July 31, https://arxiv.org/abs/2408.00118.Google Scholar
- (1982) The mechanization of design and manufacturing. Sci. Amer. 247(3):114–130.Crossref, Google Scholar
- (2023) Complementarity between investment in information technology (IT) and IT human resources: Implications for different types of firm innovation. Inform. Systems Res. 34(3):1259–1275.Link, Google Scholar
- (2006) The interplay between exploration and exploitation. Acad. Management J. 49(4):693–706.Crossref, Google Scholar
- (1993) Reengineering the Corporation: A Manifesto for Business Revolution. (Harpercollins Publishers, New York).Google Scholar
- Hann IH, Roberts JA, Slaughter SA (2013) All are not equal: An examination of the economic returns to different forms of participation in open source software communities. Inform. Systems Res. 24(3):520–538.Google Scholar
- (1990) Architectural innovation: The reconfiguration of existing product technologies and the failure of established firms. Admin. Sci. Quart. 35(1):9–30.Crossref, Google Scholar
- (2014) Collaboration through open superposition: A theory of the open source way. MIS Quart. 38(1):29–50.Crossref, Google Scholar
- (2019) Jack of all, master of some: Information network and innovation in crowdsourcing communities. Inform. Systems Res. 30(2):389–410.Link, Google Scholar
- (2021) Editorial for the special section on humans, algorithms, and augmented intelligence: The future of work, organizations, and society. Inform. Systems Res. 32(3):675–687.Link, Google Scholar
- (2018) Issues in human–automation interaction modeling: Presumptive aspects of frameworks of types and levels of automation. J. Cognitive Engrg. Decision Making 12(1):7–24.Crossref, Google Scholar
- (2016) Research note—Content and collaboration: An affiliation network approach to information quality in online peer production communities. Inform. Systems Res. 27(2):424–439.Link, Google Scholar
- (1996) Innovation speed: A conceptual model of context, antecedents, and outcomes. Acad. Management Rev. 21(4):1143–1191.Crossref, Google Scholar
- (1980) An economics approach to modeling the productivity of computer systems. Management Sci. 26(3):297–311.Link, Google Scholar
- (2014) Social media, knowledge sharing, and innovation: Toward a theory of communication visibility. Inform. Systems Res. 25(4):796–816.Link, Google Scholar
- (2002) Some simple economics of open source. J. Industry Econom. 50(2):197–234.Crossref, Google Scholar
- (2014) Open collaboration for innovation: Principles and performance. Organ. Sci. 25(5):1414–1433.Link, Google Scholar
- (2025) Forced to change? Media exposure of labor issues and firm artificial intelligence investment. Inform. Systems Res., ePub ahead of print May 27, https://doi.org/10.1287/isre.2022.0402.Link, Google Scholar
- (2024) The influence of media capabilities on knowledge contribution in online communities. Inform. Systems Res. 35(1):165–183.Link, Google Scholar
- (2016) Coordinating interdependencies in online communities: A study of an open source software project. Inform. Systems Res. 27(4):751–772.Link, Google Scholar
- (2024) A practical guide to counterfactual estimators for causal inference with time-series cross-sectional data. Amer. J. Political Sci. 68(1):160–176.Crossref, Google Scholar
- (2005) Innovation speed: Transferring university technology to market. Res. Policy 34(7):1058–1075.Crossref, Google Scholar
- (2020) The evolution of software development orchestration: Current state and an agenda for future research. Eur. J. Inform. Systems 29(5):443–457.Crossref, Google Scholar
- (2019) Does superposition influence the success of FLOSS projects? An examination of open-source software development by organizations and individuals. Inform. Systems Res. 30(3):764–786.Link, Google Scholar
- (1998) Clockspeed and informational response: Evidence from the information technology industry. Inform. Systems Res. 9(4):415–433.Link, Google Scholar
- (2025) Responsible AI starts with the artifact: Challenging the concept of responsible AI in IS research. Eur. J. Inform. Systems 34(3):407–424.Crossref, Google Scholar
- (1987) The impact of automated office systems on middle managers and their work. MIS Quart. 11(4):479–491.Crossref, Google Scholar
- (2002) Two case studies of open source software development: Apache and Mozilla. ACM Trans. Software Engrg. Methodology 11(3):309–346.Crossref, Google Scholar
- (2017) Digital innovation management: Reinventing innovation management research in a digital world. MIS Quart. 41(1):223–238.Crossref, Google Scholar
- (2007) Open source software development—Just another case of collective invention? Res. Policy 36(2):157–171.Crossref, Google Scholar
- (2000) A model for types and levels of human interaction with automation. IEEE Trans. Systems Man Cybernetics Part A Systems Humans 30(3):286–297.Crossref, Google Scholar
- (2003) The social side of creativity: A static and dynamic social network perspective. Acad. Management Rev. 28(1):89–106.Crossref, Google Scholar
- (2021) Artificial intelligence and management: The automation–augmentation paradox. Acad. Management Rev. 46(1):192–210.Crossref, Google Scholar
- (2025) Sparking innovation: The effect of inventor gender diversity on recombinant innovation. Inform. Systems Res., ePub ahead of print June 5, https://doi.org/10.1287/isre.2023.0343.Link, Google Scholar
- (1999) The cathedral and the bazaar. Knowledge Tech. Policy 12(3):23–49.Crossref, Google Scholar
- (2021) Who contributes knowledge? Core-periphery tension in online innovation communities. Organ. Sci. 32(3):752–775.Link, Google Scholar
- (2025) Advancing next-generation multimethod research in information systems: A framework and some recommendations for authors and evaluators. Inform. Systems Res. 36(2):647–668.Link, Google Scholar
- (2012) How peripheral developers contribute to open-source software development. Inform. Systems Res. 23(1):144–163.Link, Google Scholar
- (2004) Understanding the nature of participation & coordination in open and gated source software development communities. Acad. Management Proc. 2004(1):B1–B5.Crossref, Google Scholar
- (2006) managing peer-to-peer conflicts in disruptive information technology innovations: The case of software reuse. MIS Quart. 30(2):339–356.Crossref, Google Scholar
- Singh, Tan, Mookerjee (2011) Network effects: The influence of structural capital on open source project success. MIS Quart. 35(4):813.Crossref, Google Scholar
- (1982) The mechanization of work. Sci. Amer. 247(3):66–75.Google Scholar
- (2024) The impact of generative AI on collaborative open-source software development: Evidence from GitHub Copilot. Preprint, submitted October 2, https://arxiv.org/abs/2410.02091.Google Scholar
- (2010) Matching methods for causal inference: A review and a look forward. Statist. Sci. 25(1):1–21.Crossref, Google Scholar
- (1994) Information systems innovation among organizations. Management Sci. 40(9):1069–1092.Link, Google Scholar
- (2005) Why should I share? Examining social capital and knowledge contribution in electronic networks of practice. MIS Quart. 29(1):35–57.Crossref, Google Scholar
- , et al. (2019) Comparison group selection in the presence of rolling entry for health services research: Rolling entry matching. Health Services Res. 54(2):492–501.Crossref, Google Scholar
- (1993) Toward a theory of organizational creativity. Acad. Management Rev. 18(2):293–321.Crossref, Google Scholar
- (2024) The impact of large language models on open-source innovation: Evidence from GitHub Copilot. Preprint, submitted September 12, https://arxiv.org/abs/2409.08379.Google Scholar
- (2024) Generative artificial intelligence, human creativity, and art. PNAS Nexus 3(3):pgae052.Crossref, Google Scholar

