| This research shows that a rigorous articulation of organizational motivation and ability can help a manager or initiator of an open source (OS) ecosystem identify potential participants. It does so by analyzing the potential for OS ecosystem creation from a theoretical sample of 21 organizations in the distributed simulation industry. Organizational motivation and ability are rated for each organization, and used to produce a scatter plot of the industry context. Four categories of organizations are identified from the scatter plot, including the Hotbed category with the most promise for OS ecosystem participation. The research identifies: potential OS ecosystem participants; levers to increase organizational motivation and ability; barriers to OS ecosystem participation; and concludes that the distributed simulation industry context is favourable to an OS ecosystem. The research operationalizes Christensen's Motivation/Ability Framework, defines three tools for managers, and illustrates the transition from an attribute- to circumstance-based categorization of organizations. |
