How Deadline Orientation and Product Modularity influence Software Quality and Job Satisfaction
Jens Foerderer, Thomas Kude, Sunil Mithas, Armin Heinzl · Academy of Management Proceedings · 2016
Because extant work on software development is scarce when it comes to how individuals cope with deadlines, we investigate the effect of individuals’ deadline orientation on software quality and job satisfaction. A survey among 144 software developers of a large global software vendor confirms our hypotheses that deadline-oriented developers are more effective when the product they develop enables them to work autonomously. Our analyses are robust to many concerns regarding common method variance. We contribute by extending existing approaches to software development by incorporating a perspective on developer’s self- determination, in particular when it comes to temporal work preferences. In addition, we provide evidence that software development effectiveness can be increased by assigning developers to products that match their temporal work preferences.