Models of motivation in software engineering

Motivation in software engineering is recognized as a key success factor for software projects, but although there are many papers written about motivation in software engineering, the field lacks a comprehensive overview of the area. In particular, several models of motivation have been proposed, but they either rely heavily on one particular model (the job characteristics model), or are quite disparate and difficult to combine. Using the results from our previous systematic literature review (SLR), we constructed a new model of motivation in software engineering. We then compared this new model with existing models and refined it based on this comparison. This paper summarises the SLR results, presents the important existing models found in the literature and explains the development of our new model of motivation in software engineering

Organizational justice, role stressors job satisfaction and turnover intention among IT professions in Thailand's ICT industry

Although turnover intention has been studied widely in Western countries, such studies are still small in number in Asia countries like Thailand. The aims of this quantitative research were: to empirically determine the significant predictors of organizational justice (distributive justice and procedural justice) and role stressors (role ambiguity, role conflict, work-overload and work-family conflict); to examine the mediating effect of job satisfaction on the relationship between predictors and turnover intention, and to investigate the applicability of the Social Exchange Theory (SET) in explaining turnover intention in Thailand. A survey was conducted among 342 IT professionals in 21 ICT organizations located in Thailand‟s ICT industry‟s four sub-sector (Computer Hardware, Computer Software, Technology Information (IT) Services and Communication). Data were analyzed using the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). Out of the 13 hypotheses regarding turnover intention, seven had significant direct effects (distributive justice, procedural justice, role ambiguity, role conflict, work-overload to job satisfaction; job satisfaction to turnover intention). The finding of this study revealed that there is a positive significant relationship between distributive justice and procedural justice with job satisfaction. This study also revealed that there is a negative significant relationship between role ambiguity, role conflict, work-overload and work-family conflict with job satisfaction. This study found a statistically negative significant relationship between job satisfaction and turnover intention. The study also found that job satisfaction was a full mediator of the relationship between distributive justice, procedural justice, role conflict and work-family conflict with turnover intention. Finally, job satisfaction partially mediated the relationship of role ambiguity and work-family conflict with turnover intention. The present study also highlighted the implications of the study, future research work as well as its limitations

Social Exchange Model between Human Resource Management Practices and Innovation in Software Engineering

This study examines the relationship between human resource management practices and innovation in software engineering. We use social exchange theory to investigate how human resource management practices influence the innovative behaviors of software developers through the mediation of affective organizational commitment. The results show that developmental appraisal, externally or equitable reward, and comprehensive training increase developers affective organizational commitment, which in turn positively affects their innovative behaviors

Career anchors and preferences for organizational career management: A study of information technology professionals in three European countries

Careers research has moved beyond the notion of traditional careers in a stable, predictable work environment to a more individual perspective. However, individual agency in career management is still likely to involve interactions between organizations and individuals. This is particularly evident in organizational career management (OCM). Career anchor theory has shed light on the work preferences of professionals but little research has examined relationships between career anchors and how people enact their careers, or how these constructs and their relationships might differ between countries. We report a quantitative study of 1,629 IT professionals from 10 organizations in Switzerland, Germany and the UK. After allowing for control variables, career anchor scores explained statistically significant amounts of variance in preferences for five of the six categories of OCM practices. Some of the connections between career anchors and OCM preferences followed naturally from their content, but others were less self-evident, or even seemingly contradictory. There were some significant differences between nationalities, with the UK tending to be the outlier. These differences were partly but not entirely consistent with prior research. This study expands understanding of the interplay of individual values and OCM and draws on previous work to offer a new classification of OCM practices

Understanding turnover intentions and behavior of Indian information systems professionals: A study of organizational justice, job satisfaction and social norms

Despite the phenomenal growth projected for the Indian information technology (IT) industry, one of the biggest challenges it faces is the high rate of turnover in offshore Indian-based supplier firms (Everest Research Group 2011). In this dissertation, we explored the following determinants of turnover intentions—social norms job attributes, job satisfaction, organizational alternatives, first order supervisory justice dimensions (distributive, procedural, interpersonal and informational justice) and second-order organizational justice measured by the first order justice dimensions. The research design was longitudinal to assess turnover behavior and its relationship with turnover intentions. Telephonic interviews were conducted with 75 Indian IS professionals based in India. Ten months later the respondents were contacted again to determine their actual turnover behavior. Data was quantitatively analyzed using PLS graph. Qualitative analysis using content analysis was also performed to gain deeper insights. Seven out of the 11 hypothesized relationships were supported. Three out of 4 dimensions of justice were found to be significantly and negatively related to turnover intentions- distributive, procedural and informational justice. Also, the second-order latent construct of overall organizational justice was found to be negatively related to turnover intentions. The hypothesized relationships between social norms and turnover intentions and between organizational alternatives and turnover intentions were not supported. Job attributes for tasks not involving client interaction (programming, testing and project management tasks) was found to be negatively related to job satisfaction. Finally, turnover intentions was found to positively relate to turnover behavior. We made important contributions to the literature of turnover by being one of the few studies actually measuring turnover behavior. Also, we addressed a gap in the literature of IS turnover of studying IS populations across different nations. We contributed to theory by testing a model of turnover that had new constructs not tested before, like overall organizational justice (second-order) and supervisory focused four first-order justice dimensions, and social norms. For future research, revised model of turnover relevant for Indian IS professionals is proposed-this involved adding new constructs like work life balance, stress, organizational satisfaction and removing constructs that did not find support in Indian contexts like organizational alternatives and social norms

Journey Towards Agility – A Retro- and Prospective Review

After more than 15 years since the Agile Manifesto and extensive research on agile software development (ASD) for nearly three decades, a comprehensive body of knowledge is available and is constantly growing. ASD is considered an effective way for managing software development projects in environments characterized by rapidly changing requirements. This study aims to shed light on the existing knowledge on ASD by applying a structured literature review and computer aided analysis consisting of distinct text mining techniques. We analyzed a sample of 1,376 papers and provide results from articles among relevant information systems research as well as computer science conferences and journals. Based on our approach, we are able to (1) evaluate key articles and journals, (2) analyze the development of ASD research in the last three decades and, most importantly, (3) identify research foci of the past as well as gaps in our knowledge on ASD

FROM IT EMPLOYEE TO IT ENTREPRENEUR: THE CONCEPT OF IT ENTREPRENEURIAL EPIPHANY

This paper addresses an under-investigated thematic area of IT turnover personnel literature: IT Entrepreneurial Turnover. Drawing upon the IT Entrepreneurial Turnover model and following a grounded theory methodological approach, we introduce a conceptual construct, the IT Entrepreneurial Epiphany (ITEE), to describe the moment when the IT employee/future entrepreneur realizes that a critical aspect of the necessary conditions for her to quit her job and start her own business have been met. Five lower-level concepts compose the core category of IT Entrepreneurial Epiphany: the rules of the business game (in the corporation and in the market), the estimation of the risk involved in the new venture creation process compared to salaried employment, long-term considerations, the socio-economic context, and the dimension of time. We suggest that ITEE can inform the research on turnover behavior of IT and non IT personnel

Teaching and learning introductory programming : a model-based approach

The dissertation identifies and discusses impact of a model-based approach to teaching and learning introductory object-oriented programming both for practitioners and for computer science education research.Learning to program is notoriously difficult. This dissertation investigates ways to teach introductory object-oriented programming at the university level. It focuses on a model-based approach, describes and argues for this approach and investigates several of its aspects. It gives an overview of the research in teaching introductory programming in an objects-first way. The dissertation also investigates ways for university teachers to share and document best practices in teaching introductory object-oriented programming through pedagogical patterns. The dissertation addresses both traditional young full-time students and experienced programmers (although not in object-orientation) participating in part-time education. It examines whether the same success factors for learning programming apply to a model-based approach as to introductory programming courses in general for full-time students and gives a general overview of research in success factors for introductory programming. Some factors are the same, because students‘ math competence is positively correlated with their success. The dissertation examines how experienced programmers link a model-based programming course to their professional practices. The general answer is that the part-time students do not need to have a direct link to their specific work-practice, they expect to create the link themselves; but the teacher must be aware of the conditions facing the part-time students in industry. Furthermore, the dissertation addresses interaction patterns for part-time students learning model-based introductory programming in a net-based environment. A previously prepared solution to an exercise is found to mediate the interaction in three different ways. Design patterns have had a major impact on the quality of object-oriented software. Inspired by this, researchers have suggested pedagogical patterns for sharing best practices in teaching introductory object-oriented programming. It was expected that university teachers‘ knowledge of pedagogical patterns was limited, but this research proved that to be wrong; about half of the teachers know pedagogical patterns. One of the problems this dissertation identifies is the lack of a structuring principle for pedagogical patterns; potential users have problems identifying the correct patterns to apply. An alternative structuring principle based on a constructivist learning theory is suggested and analysed

Arbeitsgestaltung in der Softwareentwicklung:ein empirischer Vergleich subjektiver Arbeitsmerkmale in proprietären und Open-Source-Softwareprojekten

In der vorliegenden empirischen Studie wurden mit den Methoden der Arbeits- und Organisationspsychologie die Arbeitsgestaltung bei zwei Arten von Tätigkeiten miteinander verglichen: zum einen die Arbeitsgestaltung in Open-Source-Softwareentwicklungsprojekten und zum anderen die Arbeitsgestaltung im proprietären Umfeld der Softwareentwicklung. Es zeigte sich, dass die Tätigkeitsmerkmale der Komplexität in der Open-Source-Softwareentwicklung höher ausgeprägt sind als in der proprietären Softwareentwicklung. Kein eindeutiger Unterschied konnte für die sozialen Aspekte der Tätigkeit nachgewiesen werden. Außerdem wurde der Wirkungszusammenhang zwischen Tätigkeitsmerkmalen und organisationalen Kriterien untersucht. Es konnte jedoch nicht gezeigt werden, dass dieser für beide Arten von Tätigkeiten identisch ist. Insgesamt geben die Ergebnisse erste Hinweise auf Verbesserungsansätze für die Gestaltung von Tätigkeiten in der Softwareentwicklung und anderen Berufen