Software development is a very human-intensive activity.
This dissertation proposes a framework for Open Source Software (OSS) that represent human factors as Human Capital.
This Human Capital framework is a benchmark to measure the reliability and sustainability of OSS projects.
%inspired by the Global Human Capital Index reported by the World Economic Forum.
To propose a framework for OSS Human Capital, %we first carried out a systematic mapping study,
a systematic mapping study first was carried out, classifying 78 studies into four dimensions: (1) capacity for skill attainment, (2) deployment for workforce, (3) development for access to learning, and (4) know-how for knowledge sharing.
A key outcome is a set of 13 indicators and 8 metrics for constructing a Human Capital Index (HCI).
The dimension of deployment and know-how are studied through the population structure of 90 OSS projects, using the demographic approach.
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This dissertation proposes the software population pyramids, that represent the deployment and know-how dimensions of Human Capital.
The second study investigates the characteristics of contributors' activities in OSS development for capacity.
The study investigates GitHub activities by each contributor to represent the capacity dimensions.
The final study is the construction and evaluation of the HCI framework. The empirical study evaluates the HCI of OSS projects, classifying 1,418 projects into for types: wealthy, become wealthy, become poor and poor. Furthermore, a HCI dimension plot is useful to show human activity in OSS projects.
This dissertation provides an evidence-based comprehensive framework to help practitioners to understand the human capital in their projects.