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King’s People

Biography

My primary area of research is open source software development. The theoretical issues driving my research include the dynamics of learning and organizing in open source collectives, material agency, digital and open innovation, and algorithmic work. Prior to joining King’s College London, I was an Associate Professor of Information Systems at Warwick Business School. At the latter school I was course director of the main IS programme, MSc MISDI and organized research seminars where top IS scholars were invited to present and discuss their work. I hold a PhD in Information Systems from the LSE.

My past affiliations include the LSE with a joint appointment with LERO Research Centre in Limerick, Ireland, as well as Imperial College Business School. I am a founding member of the AIS Special Interest Group on Open Research and Practice. I serve as AE for different tracks for ICIS and ECIS conferences, and AE for the OCIS Division for the AOM conference. I was an elected international representative at large for the OCIS division for the Academy of Management (AOM) – 2016-2019. I was also an Associate Editor for Information Systems Research (ISR) – 2018-2021.

Along with these roles I am currently an Associate Editor for MISQ and an editorial board member for the Journal of Information Technology, Journal of Strategic Information Systems, and Information and Organization. Warwick Business School awarded me for "Outstanding Contribution to Research" in 2016-2017, and “Outstanding Contribution to Teaching” in 2017-2018. And, in 2019 I received an Associate Editor of the Year Award from ISR. 

Research Interests and PhD Supervision

  • Distinct governance mechanisms related to open source and crowds
  • Questions related to company and open source community relationship management
  • The changing nature of open source communities
  • The role played by the open source community and its product within an ecosystem
  • Theoretical questions related to materiality, emergence, learning and organising

For more details, please see her full  research profile.

Teaching

My teaching and research are tightly linked as I feel that is the best way to encourage theoretically strong ideas in students. I usually teach courses related to the digital economy, open innovation, and critically inclined materials on how new technologies like artificial intelligence and robots need to be designed so that their underlying algorithms are visible, open, and morally/ethically thought-through.

Expertise and public engagement 

Consultant: Reviewer for the new vision and strategy for OSOR for the European Commission, DIGIT - https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/  

Selected Publications

Journal Papers:

  • Hukal, P., Henfridsson, O., Shaikh, M., and Parker, G. 2020. "Platform Signalling for Generating Platform Content," MIS Quarterly (44:3).
  • Shaikh, M., and Levina, N. 2019. "Selecting an Open Innovation Community as an Alliance Partner: Looking for Healthy Communities and Ecosystems," Research Policy (48:8).
  • Shaikh, M. and Henfridsson, O. (2017) "Governing open source software through coordination processes", Information and Organization, 27, 2, 116-135. (Best paper award from Association for Information Systems, 2018. And best paper award from Information and Organization journal, 2018.)
  • Curto-Millet, D., and Shaikh, M. 2017. "The Emergence of Openness in Open-Source Projects: The Case of OpenEHR," Journal of Information Technology (32:4), pp. 361-379.
  • Shaikh, M. and Vaast, E. (2016) "Folding and unfolding: balancing openness and transparency in open source communities", Information Systems Research, 27, 4, 813-833. (Runner-up best paper award from ISR 2016)
  • Maha Shaikh (2016) "Negotiating open source software adoption in the UK public sector", Government Information Quarterly, 1, 115-132.
  • Cornford, T., Shaikh, M. and Ciborra, C. (2010) "Hierarchy, laboratory and collective: unveiling Linux as innovation, machination and constitution", Journal of the Association for Information System.

Books:

  • Fitzgerald, B., Kesan, J., Russo, B., Shaikh, M. and Succi, G. (2011) "Adopting open source software: challenges and opportunities ", MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. 9780262516358

Book Chapters:

  • Maha Shaikh (2012) “Mutability and Becoming: Materializing of Public Sector Adoption of Open Source Software”: In IFIP Working Group 8.2 Conference: Shaping the Future of ICT Research: Methods and Approaches, A. Bhattacherjee and B. Fitzgerald (Eds.). University of South Florida, Tampa, USA, December 13-14: Springer.
  • Cordella, A., Paletti, A., and Shaikh, M. 2018. "Renegotiating Public Value with Co-Production," in Creating and Capturing Value through Crowdsourcing, A. Afuah, C.L. Tucci and G. Viscusi (eds.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. 
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