Bit by Bit

Goldbeck, Moritz (5. September 2023): Bit by Bit. Collaborative Research Center Transregio 190, Discussion Paper No. 422

Abstract

Digital work settings potentially facilitate remote collaboration and thereby decrease geographic frictions in knowledge work. Here, I analyze spatial collaboration patterns of some 191 thousand software developers in the United States on the largest code repository platform GitHub. Despite advanced digitization in this occupation, developers are geographically highly concentrated, with 79.8% of users clustering in only ten economic areas, and colocated developers collaborate about nine times as much as non-colocated developers. However, the colocation effect is much smaller than in less digital social or inventor networks, and apart from colocation geographic distance is of little relevance to collaboration. This suggests distance is indeed less important for collaboration in a digital work setting while other strong drivers of geographic concentration remain. Heterogeneity analyses provide insights on which types of collaboration tend to colocate: the colocation effect is smaller within larger organizations, for high-quality projects, among experienced developers, and for sporadic interactions. Overall, this results in a smaller colocation effect in larger economic areas.

• Dokumententyp: Paper
• Keywords: geography; digitalization; networks; knowledge economy; colocation
• Fakultät: Volkswirtschaft > Collaborative Research Center Transregio "Rationality and Competition"
• Themengebiete: 300 Sozialwissenschaften > 330 Wirtschaft
• JEL Classification: L84, O18, O30, R32
• Sprache: Englisch