1 investigating determinants of software developers ’ intentions to follow methodologies 報告者...

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Investigating Determinants of Software Developers’ Intentions to Follow Methodologies

報告者 : 林彥辰指導 : 王育民教授

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ABSTRACT

Seeking to improve software development, many organizations attempt to deploy formalized methodologies.

The present research draws upon theories of intention formation and innovation diffusion to advance knowledge about why developers accept or resist following methodologies.

Organizational mandate is not sufficient to guarantee use of the methodology in a sustained manner.

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ABSTRACT

Software development is not improving as it should.

Many of these innovation are slow to be accepted and have not become widely utilized.

To better understand how to deal with this resistance, the research investigates the determinants of software developer’ intentions to follow a methodolgy.

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Previous Research on Methodology OO development, Johnson et al process usefulness, product usefulness,

communication usefulness, career usefulness, extra-organizational pressure, intra-organizational pressure, OO skill, general background, difficulty with OO, receptiveness to OO, complexity of OO, organizational support for OO, OO technical characteristic, expectation of OO

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Previous Research on Methodology Khalifa and Verner 利用 prototyping 和 waterfall 兩種方法論 , 分

別解釋 18% 和 32% 的變數 , 認為開發流程的quality 以及 team size 有顯著地相關

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Previous Research on Methodology Orlikowski

1. The first one had a methodology in place and adopted a CASE tool to support the existing methodology.

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Theory and Hypotheses

Mutual influence between organizational and individual decisions to adopt a methodology.

Bottom-up & top-down It is specifically this latter situation that the

present research is concerned with.

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Theory and Hypotheses

Technology acceptance model (TAM) Diffusion of innovations (DOI) It should be acknowledged hat TAM includes

a causal relationship from ease of use to usefulness, so that ease of use has both a direct effect on intention and an indirect effect through usefulness

TAM2, added subjective norm and voluntariness

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Theory and Hypotheses

The DOI theory argues that ”potential users make decisions to adopt or reject an innovation based on beliefs they form about the innovation ”

Three beliefs about innovations that are consistently relevant: relative advantage, complexity and compatibility

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Theory and Hypotheses

Usefulness Complexity Social pressure Compatibility Organizational mandate

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Perceived usefulness

Within organizational settings, people form intentions toward behaviors they believe will increase their job performance.

Johnson et al. found several usefulness elements

Khalifa and Verner , process quality and product quality

H1:perceived usefulness will be positively related to a developer’s intention to follow a methodology.

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Perceived complexity

Refer to the degree to which a software developer regards a methodology as difficult to follow or learn

TAM and DOI, how difficult the innovation is to understand or use

H2: perceived complexity will be positively related to a developer’s intention to follow a methodology.

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Perceived social pressure

TAM, did not find TAM2, subjective norm The attitudes and beliefs of others in groups

to which an individual belong help shape technology usage behavior through overt communication or more subtle forms of suggestion.

H3: perceived social pressure will be positively related to a developer’s intention to follow a methodology.

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Perceived compatibility

Degree to which a software developer regards the practice of following a methodology as being his or her preexisting software development process

Johnson et al., compatibility of one’s existing skills and background in a particular development approach may influence intention formation toward the approach

H4: perceived compatibility will be positively related to a developer’s intention to follow a methodology.

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Perceived organizational mandate The degree to which a developer believes

that following a methodology has been dictated by an official policy currently in effect within his or her organization

H5: perceived organizational mandate will be positively related to a developer’s intention to follow a methodology.

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Intention

Intentions are assumed to capture the motivational factors that have an impact on a behavior

How hard people are willing to try How much of an effort they are planning to

exert

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Measures

A questionnaire was constructed using measurement scales adapted from previous

(Appendix A for scales)

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Research site

A Fortune 1000 organization fitting the aforementioned sample criteria served as the research site.

330 IT employees(145 service, 185 applications development)

No other methodology was use prior to. Six-week given training and experience on trial

projects Each Friday, review and feedback session Methodology documentation( approximately 150

page)

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Research site

128 developers completed(69%) Table 1

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Result

figure1

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Result

figure2

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Discussion

Usefulness, although significant, was comparatively weaker

Complexity was not significant Social pressure, organizational mandate, and

compatibility were all significant Explained 63% of the developer’s intention to

follow the methodology.(Khalifa and Verner,18% and 32%; TAM,40; DOI, 46)

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Theoretical implication of intention determinants Usefulness generally has a beta of around

0.60 in TAM. In present study is small(0.46) Usefulness may not be quickly realized Usefulness may primarily accrue to the

organization rather than the individual

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Theoretical implication of intention determinants The teamwork culture of software

development, social pressure may be more important in this environment than an environment of IT tool use.

For less disruptive innovations, compatibility may be unimportant as a direct determinant of intention

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Consideration of potential indirect effects Effect of complexity, social pressure,

compatibility on intention via usefulness

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Managerial implications

An examination of both direct and indirect effects affords a meaningful practical interpretation of the actionable leverage points for increasing intentions

Compatibility :0.2+0.37*0.48 = 0.38

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Future research

Any additional determinants of methodology acceptance should be identified and incorporated into the research

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conclusion

By knowing the determinants of a developer’s intention, management can take appropriate action to increase the likelihood of successfully deploying a new methodology