TY - GEN
T1 - A survey on project factors that motivate Finnish software engineers
AU - Misirli, Ayse Tosun
AU - Verner, June
AU - Markkula, Jouni
AU - Oivo, Markku
PY - 2014
Y1 - 2014
N2 - Previous studies suggest that motivation is a critical factor in developer productivity and project outcome, i.e., software project failures are significantly associated with low motivation of software teams. Surveys with software engineers also indicate that culture can affect software development team motivation through differences in developers' motivational factors. In this study, we conduct a survey with 15 Finnish software engineers and 21 non-Finnish software engineers who live in Finland to investigate 1) the relationship between team motivation and project outcome, and 2) the factors that motivate Finnish software engineers. We compare the motivational factors found from the Finnish data with those identified in prior research with developers from four different countries. An analysis of the data from our 36 subjects indicates that project outcome is not associated with team motivation in Finland though this result contradicts prior research. There is a single motivational factor, "team work" that appears to be culturally independent. Unique team motivational factors for Finnish software engineers are found to be "the authority of project manager" and "the vision of project manager". Our results indicate that cultural differences affect team motivation and that project managers need to consider these when working in a global environment.
AB - Previous studies suggest that motivation is a critical factor in developer productivity and project outcome, i.e., software project failures are significantly associated with low motivation of software teams. Surveys with software engineers also indicate that culture can affect software development team motivation through differences in developers' motivational factors. In this study, we conduct a survey with 15 Finnish software engineers and 21 non-Finnish software engineers who live in Finland to investigate 1) the relationship between team motivation and project outcome, and 2) the factors that motivate Finnish software engineers. We compare the motivational factors found from the Finnish data with those identified in prior research with developers from four different countries. An analysis of the data from our 36 subjects indicates that project outcome is not associated with team motivation in Finland though this result contradicts prior research. There is a single motivational factor, "team work" that appears to be culturally independent. Unique team motivational factors for Finnish software engineers are found to be "the authority of project manager" and "the vision of project manager". Our results indicate that cultural differences affect team motivation and that project managers need to consider these when working in a global environment.
KW - culture
KW - motivational factors
KW - software development team motivation
KW - software project outcome
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84906773401&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1109/RCIS.2014.6861052
DO - 10.1109/RCIS.2014.6861052
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:84906773401
SN - 9781479923939
T3 - Proceedings - International Conference on Research Challenges in Information Science
BT - 2014 IEEE 8th International Conference on Research Challenges in Information Science, IEEE RCIS 2014
PB - IEEE Computer Society
T2 - 8th IEEE International Conference on Research Challenges in Information Science, IEEE RCIS 2014
Y2 - 28 May 2014 through 30 May 2014
ER -