The Role of Gamification in Motivating User Participation in Requirements Determinations

The success of a project heavily relies on the quality of requirements determinations, which the systems are built upon. However, about 60% of project failures are due to weak requirements determinations. This weakness is due to poor communication and lack of stakeholder engagement. Understanding the factors that motivate user participation behaviors during requirements determinations will help to recognize how users will demonstrate positive behaviors and will be more engaged. However, empirical research on the factors that motivate participants during requirements determinations to engage and share their knowledge is still lacking. The purpose of this paper is to examine the motivational impact of gamification elements on user participation behaviors during requirements determinations. This paper presents an extended model of the theory of reasoned action. The extended model posits that gamification elements will influence user participation intentions indirectly through their effects on attitude and subjective norms

Got Issues? Who Cares About It? A Large Scale Investigation of Issue Trackers from GitHub

International audienceFeedback from software users constitutes a vital part in the evolution of software projects. By filing issue reports, users help identify and fix bugs, document software code, and enhance the software via feature requests. Many studies have explored issue reports, proposed approaches to enable the submission of higher-quality reports, and presented techniques to sort, categorize and leverage issues for software engineering needs. Who, however, cares about filing issues? What kind of issues are reported in issue trackers? What kind of correlation exist between issue reporting and the success of software projects? In this study, we address the need for answering such questions by performing an empirical study on a hundred thousands of open source projects. After filtering relevant trackers, the study used about 20,000 projects. We investigate and answer various research questions on the popularity and impact of issue trackers

Designing an End User Participation and Involvement Assistant for Continuous IS Development

The nature of information system provision has changed as the business models of software firms are continually changing towards software-as-a service and platform-as-a-service solutions. Involving end users in a continuous development of such information systems promises to increase the overall system’s success. The conceptualization and actual realization of the user involvement concept is subject of ongoing research. Based on a systematic literature review, we identified three implications of this research that are relevant for the development of an information technology based assistant for user participation and involvement. In this paper, we introduce our Design Science Research project on the theory grounded design of a user participation and involvement assistant. We aim to enable end users to provide meaningful feedback to the developers during their actual system use. Moreover, the assistant will enable developers to effectively analyze the vast amount of complex end user feedback

Factors affecting Technical Debt Raw data from a systematic literature map

"This document presents the complete list of references that have been short listed during the systematic review process carried out during the months of April-September 2012. The objective of the systematic review was to identify current research trends in technical debt and to explore the relationship between technical debt measures and agile software development. This documents includes 352 references that are categorized according to their relevance to technical debt research." [Abstract

Governance team leadership and business user participation : organizational practices for innovative customer engagement in data compliance project

The study examines the relationship between the governance program teams, business user participation, and innovation in data compliance projects. Many firms continue to struggle with their governance programs as its effective implementation requires organizational change and a higher rate of involvement of those with significant knowledge of the context of the system use. Leadership elements are observed in governance teams and the way how these elements impact both, participation and innovation in recent General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) data compliance efforts. To test the hypotheses, a quantitative method with Structural Equation Modelling and Partial Least Squares (PLS) in SmartPLS tool are used. The empirical data are collected from 98 data management professionals involved in projects associated with customers’ data in larger organizations across European Union (EU). Research findings show that Governance Team Leadership (GTL) influence positively Line-of-Business Stakeholders Participation (LOBSP) and LOBSP influence positively Data Compliance Innovation (DCI) in GDPR efforts. Moreover, it shows that LOBSP is the underlying mechanism (mediator) of the relationship GTL and DCI. Data governance transfers data and information management towards managerial functions and strategic management. Data has become embedded within nearly every department and business unit, and its proper enterprise-wide governance requires much more rigorous alignment with business users and formation of one cross-functional unit – data stewardship team of proactive leaders. In opportunities and restrictions of data revolution underway, evidence of any sustainable organizational practices leading to innovations and competitive advantage is beneficial

Organizational learning and its role in user assimilation in the case of an ERP project : a suggestion for improved learning guidelines

Digitalization and the adoption of technological solutions characterize many current trends across organizations. A widespread example of this is the use of ERP systems to streamline business processes and improve efficiency. Most ERP-related literature focuses on challenges and best practices in the implementation phase of the system’s life cycle, with less emphasis on the reasons affecting the actual usage and assimilation of ERP systems. Evidence suggests that organizational learning is crucial for the successful user assimilation of ERP systems. However, limited research has focused on understanding the factors affecting individual level learning in training design for ERP projects. This master's thesis investigates the role of organizational learning and factors influencing individual level learning in ERP system users. The study utilizes qualitative research methods, including interviews with a subgroup of a case organization. The findings suggest that organizational culture, motivation, perceived usefulness, social factors, and learning enjoyment impact the assimilation and acceptance of ERP systems. The study also identifies best practices for ERP training, including the use of a learning plan, diverse learning approaches and effective assessment of training methods. The results provide practical recommendations for organizations to improve their training strategies and contribute to the broader academic discourse on ERP system assimilation signalling the need for future research in this domain

Embodied creativity: a process continuum from artistic creation to creative participation

This thesis breaks new ground by attending to two contemporary developments in art and science. In art, computer-mediated interactive artworks comprise creative engagement between collaborating practitioners and a creatively participating audience, erasing all notions of a dividing line between them. The procedural character of this type of communicative real-time interaction replaces the concept of a finished artwork with a ‘field of artistic communication’. In science, the field of creativity research investigates creative thought as mental operations that combine and reorganise extant knowledge structures. A recent paradigm shift in cognition research acknowledges that cognition is embodied. Neither embodiment in cognition nor the ‘field of artistic communication’ in interactive art have been assimilated by creativity research. This thesis takes an interdisciplinary approach to examine the embodied cognitive processes in a ‘field of artistic communication’ using a media artwork called Sim-Suite as a case study research strategy. This interactive installation, created and exhibited in an authentic real-world context, engages three people to play on wobble-boards. The thesis argues that creative processes related to Sim-Suite operate within a continuum, encompassing collaborative artistic creation and cooperative creative participation. This continuum is investigated via mixed methods, conducting studies with qualitative and quantitative analysis. These are interpreted through a theoretical lens of embodied cognition principles, the 4E approaches. The results obtained demonstrate that embodied cognitive processes in Sim-Suite’s ‘field of artistic communication’ function on a continuum. We give an account of the creative process continuum relating our findings to the ‘embedded-extended-enactive lens’, empirical studies in embodied cognition and creativity research. Within this context a number of topics and sub-themes are identified. We discuss embodied communication, aspects of agency, forms of coordination, levels of evaluative processes and empathetic foundation. The thesis makes conceptual, empirical and methodological contributions to creativity research

User-Developer Communication in Large-Scale IT Projects

User participation and involvement in software development has been studied for a long time and is considered essential for a successful software system. The positive effects of involving users in software development include improving quality in light of information about precise requirements, avoiding unnecessarily expensive features through enhanced aligment between developers and users, creating a positive attitude toward the system among users, and enabling effective use of the system. However, large-scale IT (LSI) projects that use traditional development methods tend to involve the user only at the beginning of the development process (i.e., in the specification phase) and at the end (i.e., in the verification and validation phases) or not to involve users at all. However, even if developers involve users at the beginning and the end, there are important decisions that affect users in the phases in between (i.e., design and implementation), which are rarely communicated to the users. This lack of communication between the users and developers in the design and implementation phase results in users who do not feel integrated into the project, are little motivated to participate, and do not see their requirements manifested in the resulting system. Therefore, it is important to study how user-developer communication (UDC) in the design and implementation phases can be enhanced in LSI projects in order to increase system success. The thesis follows the technical action research (TAR) approach with the four phases of problem investigation, treatment design, design validation, and implementation evaluation. In the problem investigation phase we conducted a systematic mapping study and assessed the state of UDC practice with experts. In the treatment design phase, we designed the UDC–LSI method with experts, and we validated its design with experts in the design validation phase. Finally, in the implementation evaluation phase we evaluated the implementation of the method using a case study. This thesis first presents a meta-analysis of evidence of the effects of UPI on system success in general and explore the methods in the literature that aim to increase UPI in software development in the literature. Second, we investigate the state of UDC practice with experts, analyzing current practices and obstacles of UDC in LSI projects. Third, we propose the UDC–LSI method, which supports the enhancement of UDC in LSI projects, and present a descriptive classification containing user-relevant decisions (and, therefore, trigger points) to start UDC that can be used with our method. We also show the validity of the method through an assessment of the experts who see potential for the UDC–LSI method. Fourth, we demonstrate the results of a retrospective validation of the method in the real-life context of a large-scale IT project. The evaluation showed that the method is feasible to implement, has a positive effect on system success, and is efficient to implement from the perspective of project participants. Furthermore, project participants consider the UDC-LSI method to be usable and are likely to use in future projects

Understanding Effective Use in the (Post)-Implementation Phase of Information Systems

Organizational information systems (IS) must be used effectively to maximize their benefits for the overall organization. However, their complexity creates significant challenges for conducting the IS project of an implementation in such a way that users are subsequently enabled to use a system effec-tively. The challenge is also present in the post-implementation phase whenever employees have to learn how to use a system effectively for a given task and develop their own adaptations. Thus, this thesis presents a research effort on the means that effect users’ perception and ability to use a system effec-tively during an IS project as well as in the phase of use in post-implementation. Thereby this thesis provides a more detailed understanding of the concept of effective use and the conditions that enable effective use of IS. The analysis of IS projects contributes to research on the ambiguous and subjective nature of the evaluation of IS project success and explores the configuration of user involvement and participation in implementation projects that is most likely to be related to project success. The results of the analysis show that the participation of the appropriate users in the requirements analysis phase is most often related with IS users that feel enabled to use an IS effectively. Research on the IS use in the post-implementation phase presented in this thesis provides more detailed conceptual development of the relationship of user behaviors such as learning, user adaptation, and workarounds with effective use and thereby extents the nomological net of theory of effective use (Burton-Jones & Grange, 2013). Results of further analysis show that workarounds can positively affect the use of an implemented IS. Finally, this thesis contributes an operationalization of the concept of effective use based on the initial conceptualization by Burton-Jones and Grange (2013). This answers a call for research on richer concep-tualizations of IS use. In sum, these findings add to research on concept of IS use and user behaviors that influence the effective use of IS. Therefore, they enable a more detailed understanding of the concept of effective use and allow future researchers to extent and refine the nomological net of effec-tive use. Practitioners may also employ these new measures to measure the effectiveness of their efforts to improve the effective use of IS. They also benefit from the insights on the perception of IS success in organization and appropriate phases and forms of user participation in IS projects