Open this publication in new window or tab >>2023 (English)In: Journal of Systems and Software, ISSN 0164-1212, E-ISSN 1873-1228, Vol. 198, article id 111592Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
Background: Software engineering research aims to establish software development practice on a scientific basis. However, the evidence of the efficacy of technology is insufficient to ensure its uptake in industry. In the absence of a theoretical frame of reference, we mainly rely on best practices and expert judgment from industry-academia collaboration and software process improvement research to improve the acceptance of the proposed technology. Objective: To identify acceptance models and theories and discuss their applicability in the research of acceptance behavior related to software development.Method: We analyzed literature reviews within an interdisciplinary team to identify models and theories relevant to software engineering research. We further discuss acceptance behavior from the human information processing perspective of automatic and affect-driven processes (“fast” system 1 thinking) and rational and rule-governed processes (“slow” system 2 thinking). Results: We identified 30 potentially relevant models and theories. Several of them have been used in researching acceptance behavior in contexts related to software development, but few have been validated in such contexts. They use constructs that capture aspects of (automatic) system 1 and (rational) system 2 oriented processes. However, their operationalizations focus on system 2-oriented processes indicating a rational view of behavior, thus overlooking important psychological processes underpinning behavior. Conclusions: Software engineering research may use acceptance behavior models and theories more extensively to understand and predict practice adoption in the industry. Such theoretical foundations will help improve the impact of software engineering research. However, more consideration should be given to their validation, overlap, construct operationalization, and employed data collection mechanisms when using these models and theories.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Elsevier, 2023
Keywords
Acceptance behavior, dual process theory, technology acceptance, theory, TAM, UTAUT, TPB
National Category
Software Engineering Psychology
Research subject
Software Engineering
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:bth-24132 (URN)10.1016/j.jss.2022.111592 (DOI)000915632900001 ()2-s2.0-85146227386 (Scopus ID)
Projects
ELLIIT
Funder
ELLIIT - The Linköping‐Lund Initiative on IT and Mobile Communications
Note
open access
2022-12-232022-12-232023-03-02Bibliographically approved