A Generational Perspective on the Software Workforce: Precocious Users of Social Networking in Software Development

ABSTRACT

Software is the lifeblood of technological advancement, and it progresses not only through emerging technologies, but also through the contributions of new generations of developers who have distinct technology-related experiences. We describe our qualitative investigation into how developers, who began regularly using social networking technology at an early age (referred to as precocious users), demonstrate distinct expectations about the goals of software development. We advance a theoretical perspective that explains how the increasingly socially infused nature of networking applications shapes generations of individuals — some of whom will go on to become creative developers in the software industry. Our perspective suggests software organizations can leverage developers who have been precocious users of more recent social networking technologies to reinforce intuitive usage, promote social impact, and re-energize experimentation and contribution to the software community. Our results also offer a comprehensive set of development goals that focus attention towards contemporary expectations about challenging usability and contribution to software ecosystems. We conclude by discussing how our methodological steps, data collection, and data analysis procedures empower future research to explore generational shifts in the career perceptions and competencies of the digital workforce.

KEYWORDS:

• Software development
• social networking
• generation
• digital workforce
• digital native
• human resource
• career perceptions
• comparative causal mapping
• qualitative study

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the editors and anonymous reviewers for constructive feedback during the review process. This research project also benefitted from valuable comments from Brian Pentland, Lewis Williams, Steven Johnson, Arun Rai, Jens Dibbern, Thomas Huber, and attendees of different research seminars. We thank the interviewees from the software organizations who shared their perspectives and insights.

Notes

1. The Oxford English Dictionary defines “precocious” as an adjective, describing individuals who developed certain abilities or inclinations at an earlier age than is usual or expected. Researchers in learning and educational psychology often use the term to refer to young individuals who, at a significantly early age, demonstrate capabilities such as creativity, mathematical skills, and grammar proficiency [58]. Here, we use the term “precocious users of social networking technology” to refer to those individuals who began regularly using social networking applications at a notably early age.

2. Investigating the underlying reasons for a group of individuals being precocious in new technology use is beyond the focus of this paper. Nevertheless, our informants consistently described contextual reasons that encouraged or required them to use the new technology—most notably, having had a family member either working in computer science or living overseas.

Additional information

Funding

This study received funding from the British Academy Leverhulme Small Research Grant (project SG1631191).

Notes on contributors

Shahla Ghobadi

Shahla Ghobadi ([email protected]; corresponding author) is an Associate Professor of Information Management at Leeds University Business School, The University of Leeds, United Kingdom. She received her Ph.D. in Information Systems, with a background in IT Management and Industrial Engineering. Her research focuses on how software organizations manage the social and human aspects of software development to create innovative products and foster social change. She is also studying the emergence and progression of online activism and social movements within and beyond organizational boundaries. She has published in such journals as Information Systems Journal, Journal of Strategic Information Systems, Information and Organization, Information & Management, and others.

Lars Mathiassen

Lars Mathiassen ([email protected]) is Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar, Professor at the Computer Information Systems Department and Co-Founder of Center for Process Innovation at Robinson College of Business, Georgia State University. His research focuses on digital innovation, health informatics, and IT development & management. Dr. Mathiassen has published extensively in leading academic journals, including Information Systems Research, Journal of Management Information Systems, MIS Quarterly, Research Policy, and many others.