Theory of Planned Behavior and the Influence of Communication Self-Efficacy on Intention to Pursue a Software Development Career

In modern software development, communication is one of the key success factors in software project development and team performance. However, software engineering (SE) students and educators may not have fully considered its significance in comparison to technical skills. The objective of the study was to determine the influence of communication self-efficacy and factors related to the theory of planned behavior (TPB) on the intention to pursue a career in software development. A survey was used to collect data from senior SE students at six universities in Thailand. The partial least squares – structural equation model (PLS-SEM) was used to analyze the data. The findings indicate that attitudes toward software development careers and communication self-efficacy for software development had a positive influence on the students’ intention to pursue a career in software development. This study is the first attempt to investigate how communication self-efficacy in software development affects intention to work in a software development career. Educators can use the findings to improve curricula to foster students’ communication self-efficacy and encourage them to pursue a software development career

Flow barriers: What prevents software developers from experiencing flow in their work

Software development requires high problem-solving skills and creativity, making it a profession with good opportunities to become immersed in a flow experience. The characteristics of flow experience are absorption, enjoyment, and intrinsic motivation toward the activity. This study aims to better understand the barriers that prevent software developers from experiencing flow at work. Previous research has mostly examined software developers’ productivity, flow being one component of productive workdays. This study addresses the research gap by exploring the barriers to experiencing flow in software development. A qualitative questionnaire was used to gather data about flow experiences from 405 respondents. The most prominent flow barriers that emerged from these responses were interruptions, too easy, boring, or repetitive tasks, lack of opportunities, insufficient requirements, timetables and deadlines, and problems with technology or software. The results suggest that there are many more flow barriers in software development than what have been discussed in the context of productivity. These findings open up an interesting avenue for researching flow experiences in the software development context. The implication for practice is uncovering common flow barriers in software development, which can help both developers and managers identify these barriers, try to mitigate them, and facilitate more flow experiences at work.publishedVersionPeer reviewe

Future Perspectives on Positive Psychology:A Research Agenda

Just over two decades ago, Martin Seligman's inaugural lecture as the new president of the APA marked the dawn of Positive Psychology. Seligman called for a science of positive subjective experiences, positive individual states/traits/behaviours, and positive societal factors that improves the quality of life and wellbeing. Since then, this sub-discipline of psychology has shown extraordinary and inspiring growth in both the academy (e.g. research papers/books) and practice (e.g. establishment of professional associations, annual conferences). Positive psychology has increased our collective understanding of the factors that make life worth living, the drivers that enhance wellbeing and the elements that undermine them. It has given birth to many new theories, research models and methodologies that aim to measure, interpret, model and optimize the conditions that lead to flourishing individuals and thriving societies. It has also spawned a magnitude of sub-disciplines ranging from positive ageing, positive coaching, wellbeing therapies, positive relationships, positive health, positive organizational psychology etc. Despite building out its own identity, positive psychology has also been adopted in many adjacent fields like organizational studies, education, health, risk management, and even architectural sciences.In its relatively short life, positive psychology has provided new insights into the human condition and innovative means to solve complex individual, organizational and societal problems. Positive psychology has brought balance to psychology by establishing a platform to focus on more than just "fixing what is wrong" through focusing on optimizing what already works well. As a collective, we believe that positive psychology can continue to play a vital role in the future by deepening our understanding of 'positivity' and developing practical tools, methodologies, and interventions to enhance people, organizations, and societies' functioning.But what does the future of positive psychology hold? What are the strengths, opportunities, aspirations and results of positive psychology? And how can we, as a collective, build out the credibility and impact of the discipline's future? For us, these are some of the most challenging goals of positive psychology. With the rapid development of the field, detailed research and practice 'roadmaps' are required to direct the discipline's collective energies.This book address such by collating a series of research agendas about the future of positive psychology in different speciality areas. Specifically, the aim was to identify the limitations in our current understanding of the different theories, models, methods and interventions on which positive psychology is built and propose a roadmap for addressing such in the future. This aided in setting a specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time-bound research agenda to direct the future development of positive psychology. Contributions discuss the current state of theory and research in positive psychology and presents a research agenda for future research