Inclusion in Software Development Teams: An Empirical Study

Abstract

In a software development team, people work together in different roles to carry out the activities of the software development process. Human factors have always been critical in managing software teams. However, they have always been overshadowed by a focus on technology and underlying processes. Recently, there has been greater focus on team diversity, allowing for individual differences among team members, such as age, gender, race and ethnicity, culture, etc. The real challenge of team diversity is to assemble a software development team with a balanced representation of various diverse groups and to foster an inclusive work environment where every team member is engaged and productive, especially those in the minority. The research on inclusiveness in software development teams, which goes hand in hand with diversity, appears limited, and this work outlines its objectives and novelty. This exploratory study investigates correlations between specific workplace inclusion factors and perceived self-efficacy among members of software development teams, using the Mor Barak Inclusion–Exclusion Scale.