WORKERS’ COOPERATIVES AS A DRIVER OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY INDUSTRY

Abstract

The article analyzes the adequacy of the cooperative form of socio-economic organization for the development of information technologies. Workers’ technological cooperatives were chosen as the subject of this study. The results of surveys of Stackoverflow.com site developers from 2015 to 2022 were used as the factual basis of the article. The sample size of respondents was 70 thousand developers, which made it possible to ensure the reliability of the author’s provisions and conclusions.The methodological basis of the work was the modern neoinstitutional theory, which gives two directions for research logic. Firstly, the authors were guided by the conceptual representation of classical institutionalism (not denied by the neoclassics) about the systemic quality of institutions, which, when applied to a cooperative organization, makes it possible to determine its exclusive properties relevant for integration into the information mainstream. And, secondly, the theoretical provisions of neo-institutionalism about the active role of individuals in the formation and development of institutions (in our case, cooperatives) were taken into account. Cooperators, seeking optimal forms and types of functioning of their enterprises, thereby create their adaptive potential to innovations in the field of information technology.To analyze the data of sociology, the authors used both general scientific and special research methods: static analysis and graphical visualization.The purpose of the article was to determine the compliance of cooperative associations with current trends in the promotion of information technology. IT cooperatives operate in a variety of types and industries: from web development to graphic design, web hosting, design and final production of complex technological products.Thus, the object of consideration of the authors of the article was the sphere of information and communication technologies, and the subject – cooperative processes in the IT sector.