Train and retain: The impact of mentoring on the retention of FLOSS developers

Schilling A, Laumer S, Weitzel T (2012)

Publication Language: English

Publication Status: Published

Publication Type: Conference contribution, Conference Contribution

Publication year: 2012

Pages Range: 79-83

Conference Proceedings Title: Proceedings of the 2012 ACM SIGMIS Computers and People Research Conference

Event location: Milwaukee, WI, USA US

ISBN: 9781450311106

DOI: 10.1145/2214091.2214112

Abstract

The acquisition of new knowledge is a critical task for software development. IT companies spend considerable resources in the training of their employees to succeed in a continuously changing industry. Depending on the voluntary commitment of their contributors, initiatives developing Free Libre Open Source Software (FLOSS) identified members' learning and their retention as vital. Although contributors' knowledge building has been repeatedly found to facilitate their project continuance, FLOSS projects are lacking operational advices on how to assist their members' learning. Drawing on previous literature which emphasizes project members' social interactions and their practical experiences to build new knowledge, we propose mentoring as a training method for FLOSS projects. Based on organizational experiences, we propose a measure to evaluate mentoring as an appropriate strategy for FLOSS initiatives to facilitate individuals' learning and to retain their contributors on longitudinal base.

Authors with CRIS profile

Sven Laumer Schöller Endowed Chair for Information Systems (Digitalization in Business and Society)

Involved external institutions

Otto-Friedrich-Universität Bamberg DE Germany (DE)

How to cite

APA:

Schilling, A., Laumer, S., & Weitzel, T. (2012). Train and retain: The impact of mentoring on the retention of FLOSS developers. In ACM SIGMIS CPR (Eds.), Proceedings of the 2012 ACM SIGMIS Computers and People Research Conference (pp. 79-83). Milwaukee, WI, USA, US.

MLA:

Schilling, Andreas, Sven Laumer, and Tim Weitzel. "Train and retain: The impact of mentoring on the retention of FLOSS developers." Proceedings of the Proceedings of the 2012 ACM SIGMIS Computers and People Research Conference, Milwaukee, WI, USA Ed. ACM SIGMIS CPR, 2012. 79-83.

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