Session 7. 3. B.

This paper explores the extent to which outcomes from action situations at multiple levels drive institutional change in open-source software (OSS) production, using the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) as a case study. Drawing on the Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD), we develop a novel methodological approach based on Ostrom’s rule-type classification and the Institutional Grammar (IG) to capture institutional change from a micro-level perspective.

We created a longitudinal dataset comprising ASF’s policy documents to identify instances of formal institutional change (i.e., a policy document change). We compare formal changes to discussions and communications by the ASF board (constitutional level) to assess their role in policy change. We also analyze incubation project emails (operational level) to assess OSS production practices. This allows us to identify divergence between rules and rules-in-use. We utilize Ostrom’s rule types (1990) to categorize policy document changes into rules types.. Then, we employ Cosine and Jaccard similarity metrics to quantify changes between document versions. We track shifts in institutional arrangements over time to identify variations in the number and type of institutional statements.

This study contributes to the commons theory by advancing our understanding of institutional change. These insights have important implications for designing institutional arrangements for OSS sustainability. Beyond OSS, the methodological innovations have widespread applicability for using text analysis to study institutional evolution.

Numerous scholars have explored the role of polycentric systems in the governance of common pool resources with studies generally painting a static picture of overall system structure and institutional interrelationships. There remains a limited understanding of how such systems evolve to affect access to, use of, and control over a common pool resource. We propose that for natural resources, polycentric systems evolve out of an iterative process between the physical/ecological characteristics of the resource and the technological/legal/socio-political factors affecting resource use. Problems that arise from use can engender conflict and cooperative processes that motivate institutional formation and subsequent institutional linkages over time to resolve the problems. This can occur for example bottom up - where a polycentric system emerges from local resource conflicts, and our study of six California groundwater basins illustrates this process. Our findings suggest a relationship between pronounced hydrologic linkages and stronger institutional linkages, suggesting that the physical characteristics of natural resources are one driver of polycentric formation. Additionally, impacts from resource use can lead to both conflict and cooperative processes between basins that shape institutional formation and institutional interactions, pointing to impacts from resource use as a second driver of polycentric formation.

This paper uses a case of urban governance to begin to extrapolate fundamental principles of polycentric governance across urban areas in general. Though there are certainly numerous differences across urban areas across the globe, this paper argues that there are key principles that apply across a wide variety of settings. These principles build on wider characteristics of polycentricity but are applicable mainly in large metropolitan areas.

The study aims at examining the effect of contextual developments on agricultural marketing cooperatives over the past 30 years in the Southern Slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania. It explores on what factors have driven changes in the agricultural cooperatives and how these drivers have affected the operation of these cooperatives. Using economic theories of Institutional change, the study looks at the effect of factor prices, interrelated institutional options, mental models and governance technologies on the internal rules of the agricultural cooperatives. To analyze the changes in internal rules in the cooperatives the study uses the seven-rule typology as an analytical tool from the Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) framework by Ostrom. Through a qualitative approach including in-depth interviews with cooperative leaders, managers, officers and other relevant social groups the study highlights key factors such changes in policies, product prices and market access that have shaped cooperative dynamics. Cooperatives have reacted to contextual changes through adaptive measures such as formation of new cooperative umbrella organizations, seeking international markets on their own and introduction of new marketing systems to address financial challenges. The study underscores the importance of adaptive strategies and collaborative governance to strengthen the role of agricultural cooperatives in promoting sustainable development in the region.