Title: Understanding open-source community user contribution from the S-O-R perspective

Authors: Tao Zhou; Qingqing Yuan

Addresses: School of Management, Hangzhou Dianzi University, Hangzhou, 310018, China ' School of Management, Hangzhou Dianzi University, Hangzhou, 310018, China

Abstract: User contribution creates the content of open source communities and it is crucial to the sustainable development of the communities. However, users often lack the motivation and intention to contribute their knowledge. Based on the S-O-R model, this research examined open-source community user contribution by integrating both social and technological perspectives. A mixed method of SEM and fsQCA is used in this research. The results found that social factors (social interaction and social support) and technological factors (system quality) significantly affect the sense of virtual community, which further affects user contribution intention. The fsQCA results revealed that in the three paths triggering user contribution intention, social interaction and a sense of virtual community appear as the common core conditions. The results suggest that open source communities need to encourage users' social interactions and develop a supportive climate to enhance the sense of virtual community and facilitate their contribution.

Keywords: open-source community; S-O-R; contribution; sense of virtual community; SOVC; social interaction.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMC.2025.145329

International Journal of Mobile Communications, 2025 Vol.25 No.3, pp.277 - 294

Received: 19 Jun 2023
Accepted: 26 Feb 2024
Published online: 31 Mar 2025 *

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