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

Knowledge Management: Results from an Exploratory Case Study

This paper presents the results of an exploratory case study into knowledge management within an organisation. Using a theoretical framework as a guide to research and analysis, the case study looked the knowledge processes of generation, codification and utilisation, and the effects that different corporate sub-systems have on the knowledge processes, as well as KM efforts as a whole. The results have led to the identification of areas requiring extra investigation that will be explored in future research

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

INNOVATIVE COLLABORATION: EXTENDING INTEGRATION THEORY TO SUPPLY CHAIN INFORMATION UBIQUITY

The internet of things has enabled integration of processes, people and technology which govern information and data flows between organisations, assets and consumers, creating expectations that in a digital world real time data and information is available for simultaneous timely decision making between such stakeholders. This paper explores the gaps when integration theory is applied to such a context and the research of people organisation and technology factors to close such gaps. Based on Delphi survey findings, this paper concludes by proposing a framework to extend integration theory to innovative collaboration in the ubiquitous computing and information environment across the asset infrastructure supply chain

Pattern extraction for programming performance evaluation using directed apriori

Computer programming is taught as a core subject in Information Technology related studies.It is one of the most essential skills which each student has to acquire.However, there is still a small number of students who are unable to write a program well. Several researches indicated that there are many factors which can affect student programming performance.Thus, the objective of this paper is to investigate the significant factors that may influence students programming performance using information from previous student performance.Since data mining data analysis able to discover hidden knowledge in database, a programming dataset which comprises information about performance profile of Bachelor of Information Technology students of Faculty of IT, Universiti Utara Malaysia in the year 2004-2005 were explored using data mining technique.The dataset consists of 421 records with 70 mixture type of attributes were pre-processed and then mined using directed association rule (AR) mining algorithm namely apriori.The result indicated that the student who has a programming experience in advanced before starts learn programming in university and scored well in Mathematics and English subject during SPM were among the factor that contributes to a good programming grades

Motivation and Satisfaction of Software Engineers

Context: The proper management of people can help software organisations to achieve higher levels of success. However, the limited attention paid to the appropriate use of theories to underpin the research in this area leaves it unclear how to deal with human aspects of software engineers, such as motivation and satisfaction. Objectives: This article aims to expose what drives the motivation and satisfaction of software engineers at work. Methods: A multiple case study was conducted at four software organisations in Brazil. For 11 months, data was collected using semi-structured interviews, diary studies, and document analyses. Results: The Theory of Motivation and Satisfaction of Software Engineers (TMS-SE), presented in this article, combines elements from well established theories with new findings, and translates them into the software engineering context. Conclusion: The TMS-SE advances the understanding of people management in the software engineering field and presents a strong conceptual framework for future investigations in this area

Career orientations and turnover intentions of information systems professionals in South Africa

Bibliography: leaves 93-103.Managing Information Systems (IS) personnel has frequently been cited as a major challenge for organisations, particularly with respect to reducing and controlling the high rate of turnover that IS personnel have historically displayed. In the past, with demand for qualified IS personnel outstripping supply, alternative job openings were plentiful and organisations found it difficult to attract and retain sufficient staff. However, the last few years have seen significant cutbacks in IS spending, resulting in declining growth rates and a reduced demand for IS personnel. Although the South African IS job market does not appear to be as severely affected as in other parts of the world, and there are still pockets of high demand worldwide, it seems unlikely that the IS industry will return to its former glory in the foreseeable future. Despite these stringent market conditions, organisations continue to be plagued with high, and even more surprisingly, increasing turnover rates. This trend is particularly perturbing for organisations that are highly dependent on IS because of its negative implications. Employee turnover is costly and disrupting, often leading to delays in project completion, there is a loss of valuable expertise and productivity of the IS department is reduced. Although, this research project only considered IS personnel turnover at the individual level, there are many other factors related to the work and external environments that are believed to affect IS personnel turnover in South Africa. However, these factors which include organisational structure, perceived job market and government policy, are very difficult to measure and are often beyond the control of organisations endeavouring to reduce and control turnover; and as such were not explicitly studied

Role of Knowledge Asset Indicators in Understanding Knowledge-Intensive Processes

Organizations are increasingly engaging in implementing knowledge management systems to create, store, retrieve, and apply knowledge in achieving organizational goals and objectives. In that regard, the ability to identify knowledge assets is essential. Knowledge-intensive business processes rely heavily on appropriate utilization of knowledge and are also a source for new knowledge creation. As such, understanding the value of knowledge assets through various indicators can prove immensely helpful in better managing knowledge-intensive processes and deriving value from knowledge management systems. This paper presents a conceptual framework, which emphasizes the link between knowledge asset indicators and management of knowledge-intensive processes within an organization. Through a pilot case study used to emphasis these connections, this paper discusses the importance of developing organizational understanding of both internal and external knowledge asset indicators in enabling knowledge-intensive processes, and to ultimately achieve organizational strategic goals

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

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