Towards understanding the underlying structure of motivational factors for software engineers to guide the definition of motivational programs

In this article, factors influencing the motivation of software engineers is studied with the goal of guiding the definition of motivational programs. Using a set of 20 motivational factors compiled in a systematic literature review and a general theory of motivation, a survey questionnaire was crea...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of systems and software 2012-02, Vol.85 (2), p.216-226
Main Authors: da Silva, Fabio Q.B., França, A. César C.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Anniversaries
Brazil
Computer programs
Empirical software engineering
Guidelines
Literature reviews
Mathematical models
Motivation
People management
Principal component analysis
Principal components analysis
Questionnaires
Software
Software development
Software engineering
Studies
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Summary:In this article, factors influencing the motivation of software engineers is studied with the goal of guiding the definition of motivational programs. Using a set of 20 motivational factors compiled in a systematic literature review and a general theory of motivation, a survey questionnaire was created to evaluate the influence of these factors on individual motivation. Then, the questionnaire was applied on a semi-random sample of 176 software engineers from 20 software companies located in Recife-PE, Brazil. The survey results show the actual level of motivation for each motivator in the target population. Using principal component analysis on the values of all motivators, a five factor structure was identified and used to propose a guideline for the creation of motivational programs for software engineers. The five factor structure provides an intuitive categorization for the set of variables and can be used to explain other motivational models presented in the literature. This contributes to a better understanding of motivation in software engineering.
ISSN:0164-1212
1873-1228
DOI:10.1016/j.jss.2010.12.017