<p>This thesis revolves around co-opetition and boundary spanning activities with IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) as research case. The main objective is to through qualitative interviews and a passive observation of email conversations explore how the participants of IETF experience and is affected by a double membership where they sometimes are cooperating with their competitors. Theories states that boundary spanning activities can create role conflicts for these participants when different role-senders, IETF and the employer, send incompatible expectations. We also believe that this can have a negative impact on discussions and the standard development process, which is why we are conducting the passive observations mentioned above.</p><p>The result shows that the environment of co-opetition is a contributing factor to role-conflicts. These conflicts appear when participants are forced to choose between the role as an employee and the role as an IETF participant. Further the result indicates that a conflict only occurs when the employer tries to push an agenda that contradicts to IETF’s. We also interpret that participants in IETF who are representing organizations with formal structure and clear guidelines are at greater risk to experience role conflicts. This formal structure creates a greater distinction between two roles unlike participants who are working for employers with less formal structures and guidelines, where the role as the employee and participant in IETF are linked together.</p>

This thesis revolves around co-opetition and boundary spanning activities with IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) as research case. The main objective is to through qualitative interviews and a passive observation of email conversations explore how the participants of IETF experience and is affected by a double membership where they sometimes are cooperating with their competitors. Theories states that boundary spanning activities can create role conflicts for these participants when different role-senders, IETF and the employer, send incompatible expectations. We also believe that this can have a negative impact on discussions and the standard development process, which is why we are conducting the passive observations mentioned above. The result shows that the environment of co-opetition is a contributing factor to role-conflicts. These conflicts appear when participants are forced to choose between the role as an employee and the role as an IETF participant. Further the result indicates that a conflict only occurs when the employer tries to push an agenda that contradicts to IETF’s. We also interpret that participants in IETF who are representing organizations with formal structure and clear guidelines are at greater risk to experience role conflicts. This formal structure creates a greater distinction between two roles unlike participants who are working for employers with less formal structures and guidelines, where the role as the employee and participant in IETF are linked together.