The link between firms engaging in open source software (OSS) development and the OSScommunity is established by individual developers. This linkage might entail a principalagentissue due to the developer’s double allegiance to firm and OSS community, and exposethe firm to the risk of losing...

This paper provides a quantitative study (N = 268) of patterns of free revealing offirm-developed innovations within embedded Linux, a type of open source software (OSS). Ifind that firms, without being obliged to do so, contribute many of their own developmentsback to public embedded Linux...