Solutions in global software engineering: A systematic literature review

Global software engineering (GSE) has received increased attention, as globalization enables and encourages increased distribution of product development. Many empirical studies and systematic literature reviews (SLRs) focus on the identification of challenges, this paper however presents the first SLR collecting and analyzing solutions associated with GSE, while also evaluating the level of empirical validation of said solutions. As a starting point the paper presents a GSE model, designed to categorize solutions into process areas, useful for the analysis of the research community's contributions to state-of-the-art and identifying fundamental gaps in research. In addition, the model categorizing the solutions is populated with references and good-examples, useful for practitioners, which can use the model to find solutions to overall challenges in various process areas. The overall results of the systematic review revealed more than 330 papers containing 127 solutions that were then identified and mapped to the model. The process areas of project management are highly populated, while other areas like product integration have received surprisingly little attention. In addition, selected process area is elaborated upon in terms of contents and deficiencies.     

国外知识管理研究述评

知识管理是当今管理科学、信息科学交叉融合的最新理论成果之一，日益受到理论界与产业界的关注。90年代以来，关于知识管理的研究大量涌现。本文对知识、知识管理、智力资本、知识管理框架体系等现有理论进行了评论性回顾，并对相关研究领域急需解决的问题做了展望。     

Knowledge transfer challenges and mitigation strategies in global software development—A systematic literature review and industrial validation

Context

In this article we considered knowledge transfer (KT) in global software development (GSD) from two perspectives, state-of-the-art and state-of-the-practice, in order to identify what are the challenges that hamper the success of KT in global software teams, as well as to find out what are the mitigation strategies that can be used to overcome such challenges.

Objectives

The overall aim of this work is to provide a body of knowledge for enabling successful KT in GSD settings. This is achieved by an in-depth understanding of KT challenges and mitigation strategies, both from the perspective of literature and industry. It also identifies the similarities and differences in challenges and strategies gathered from literature studies and industrial experts.

Methods

In order to fulfill the aim of the research, we collected data through a systematic literature review (SLR) and conducted interviews with industrial experts. Through the SLR we found 35 primary studies relevant to our objectives. We also conducted eight interviews of experienced industrial professionals from eight different multinational companies world-wide. For analyzing the data we used grounded theory and cross-case analysis.

Results

In total, 60 different challenges and 79 unique mitigation strategies are identified from both SLR and interview results. The challenges and mitigation strategies are grouped into three core categories of personnel, project and technology factors, thus giving rise to a conceptualization called as 2PT factors. There are greater numbers of challenges and mitigation strategies in the project and personnel factors, highlighting the complex interplay of project-related and human-intensive issues in GSD projects, while the technology factor plays the role as facilitator in transferring knowledge. The study also maps the mitigation strategies to challenges, which can guide practitioners in their selection of strategies to use for overcoming KT challenges in GSD.

Conclusions

We conclude that effective management of project and personnel factors, facilitated by technological factors, are crucial for a successful transfer of knowledge in GSD projects. Thus in future, the researchers and practitioners need to focus on the 2PT factors for ensuring effective KT in GSD settings.     

Knowledge maps: A systematic literature review and directions for future research

ContextNowadays the concept of knowledge mapping has attracted increased attention from scientists in a variety of academic disciplines and professional practice areas. Among the most important attributes of a knowledge map is its ability to increase communication and share common practices across an entire organisation. However, despite being a promising area for research, the knowledge maps community lacks a widespread understanding of the current state of the art.ObjectiveThe objective of this article is to explore the world of knowledge mapping by reviewing and analysing the current state of research and providing an overview of knowledge mapping’s concepts, benefits, techniques, classifications and methodologies, which are precisely reviewed, and their features are highlighted. In addition, we offer directions for future research.MethodBased on the systematic literature review method this study collects, synthesises, and analyses numerous articles on a variety of topics closely related to a knowledge map published from January 2000 to December 2013 on six electronic databases by following a pre-defined review protocol. The articles have been retrieved through a combination of automatic and manual search, hence extensive quantitative and qualitative results of the research are provided.ResultsFrom the review study, we identified 132 articles addressing knowledge maps that have been reviewed in order to extract relevant information on a set of research questions. We found a generally increasing level of activity during this 5-year period. We noted that while existing research covers a large number of studies on some disciplines, such as systems and tools development, it contains very few studies on other disciplines, such as knowledge maps adoption. To aid this situation, we offer directions for future research.ConclusionsThe results demonstrated that a knowledge map is an imperative strategy for increasing organisations’ effectiveness. In addition, there is a need for more knowledge maps research.     

Social media platforms and social enterprise: Bibliometric analysis and systematic review

A considerable number of contributions at the intersection of social media platforms and social entrepreneurship has been witnessed over the past decade. The multi-disciplinary nature of current literature necessitates integrative insights on the topic. We thus undertake a two-pronged approach – bibliometric analysis followed by systematic review – to map the extant literature in a structured, objective, and quantitative way. We contribute to the literature as we (i) offer a classification of the literature in three clusters, namely ‘social media platforms, social collaboration and social marketing’, ‘social media platforms and crowdfunding, and ‘social media platforms and crowdsourcing’; (ii) analyze recent research development in each cluster, methodological development, countries co-authorship and evolution of research in the area; and (iii) propose a conceptual framework -accompanied by research propositions- that provides an overview of the literature at the intersection of social media platforms, various social entrepreneurial practices and their influence on the social enterprise performance. Our review culminates with numerous impactful research avenues for scholarly progression in the area. From a practical standpoint, this review integrates scattered findings into one body, allowing the practitioners and policymakers to discern the role of social media platforms in dealing with emerging societal problems and increasing operational efficiencies of social enterprises (SEs). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first review of its kind, offering unique perspectives at the nexus of social media platforms and SE’s performance.     

Knowledge sharing barriers in organic growth: A case study from a software company

In a high-technology field such as the software business, there are many companies striving for growth. For small software firms organic growth is a natural way to grow and often the chosen route. Effective knowledge sharing is crucial for an organically growing software company to extract maximum benefit from its existing resources. However, it can be argued that there exist many barriers to effective knowledge sharing in an organic growth context. For companies that have an intention to grow it is important to identify these possible pitfalls lining the growth path. Using an empirical case study, this paper aims to increase the understanding of the biggest potential knowledge sharing barriers that an organically growing software company may face. Management able to recognize such barriers to knowledge sharing could support growth by acting to prevent the barriers from arising and eliminating those already in place.     

国内外知识链研究进展

在综述国内外文献的基础上,从概念、模型及管理三个层面来探讨知识链的研究进展,并指明进一步的研究方向.     

Dark side of enterprise social media usage: A literature review from the conflict-based perspective

Enterprise social media (ESM) is an emerging platform based on Web 2.0 that allows employees to communicate and collaborate. Despite its numerous opportunities and benefits, there is a growing awareness of the “dark side” of the improper use of ESM in organizations. However, the findings in this aspect remain fragmented in prior literature. Our study attempts to address this research gap by capturing the dark side of ESM’s misuse from a conflict-based perspective through a comprehensive literature review of existing literature. We systematically classify different conflicts in ESM’s use, their antecedents, and subsequent negative outcomes and propose specific measures to mitigate them. On these grounds, we develop a holistic conceptual framework to clarify the relationship between these research constructs. Our research indicates that the conflicts in ESM’s use are primarily caused by inappropriate use behavior, prompted by technical characteristics. In addition, we synthesize the negative outcomes of the conflicts with a focus on the individual level from both psychological and behavioral perspectives. Our paper identifies possible opportunities for future research and provides a useful basis to further investigate the dark side of ESM’s misuse. Employees and organizations can also use our conceptual framework to better understand the causes and consequences of conflicts in the use of ESM and develop corresponding measures to mitigate them.     

Knowledge sharing in open source software project teams: A transactive memory system perspective

The extant studies have not empirically examined the possible team cognitive mechanisms that facilitate knowledge sharing in OSS teams, even though knowledge sharing is a cognitive task and an OSS team is a complex cognitive system. To fill this research gap, we adopt the perspective of transactive memory system (TMS) to explore the relationships among TMS, knowledge sharing, communication quality, and technical achievement of OSS teams. By analyzing data from 95 OSS projects with the partial least squares (PLS) method, our study demonstrates that several TMS dimensions have positive impacts on knowledge sharing behaviors and communication quality. Moreover, communication quality positively influences technical achievement of OSS teams. These findings provide useful implications for literature and practice.     

Knowledge sharing and team trustworthiness: it's all about social ties!

This paper empirically examines knowledge sharing within innovation teams and explores the relationship between knowledge sharing and trust. This relationship has generally been identified in the literature as an important aspect of knowledge management. However, its pertinence to knowledge transfer within and between teams is less obvious. The case study based on four information technology R&D teams in Taiwan suggests that trust between a knowledge holder and a receiver may not exist. In fact, it can be connected by a mediator, although the use of social relationship in which trust is rooted in both host and visitor's trust of the mediator. Thus, trust may be substituted by the social relationship in certain specific contexts.     

本体技术在软件开发项目知识共享中的应用

针对软件开发项目中不能有条理地共享软件开发知识的现象,对知识共享需求进行了分析,对基于本体的鼓励有用信息共享的途径进行了描述,并引进了基于本体的知识的表示和知识的获取,以集中各种知识并促进知识共享。     

Knowledge sharing in a multi-cultural setting: a case study

Organizational culture has been shown to influence the success of knowledge management practices. Hofstede's theory specifies that organizational culture is not independent of national culture. A case study of an international subsidiary was conducted to explore the extent to which knowledge sharing is dependent on national culture. Results indicate that language differences can create knowledge blocks, and cross-cultural differences can explain the direction of knowledge flows.     

Social media and entrepreneurship research: A literature review

The rise of social media has led to changes in how entrepreneurs carry out their day-to-day activities. Studies on social media and entrepreneurship are relatively new and fragmented in their focus, however there is increasing interest from academia and practitioners for further research and investigation within this area. This study systematically reviews research carried out in the domain of social media and entrepreneurship. A total of 160 papers, published between 2002 and 2018 were synthesised to identify critical theories and research methods used in the domain. Based on the extent review, an integrative framework was developed to identify relationships amongst elucidated constructs. While most papers investigated the factors that drive social media adoption and use by entrepreneurs, it was found that the use of social media by entrepreneurs had transcended marketing and it is now used in business networking, information search and crowdfunding for their business. This has led to significant impact with improved firm performance and innovation enhancement being the essential outcomes. The literature review and framework further understanding of social media and entrepreneurship research, providing a useful basis for future studies and informs practice in this area.     

Implementing IT Service Management: A systematic literature review

This article provides a systematic review of existing research related to the implementation of IT Service Management (ITSM) and the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL). The review's main goals are to support research; to facilitate other researchers’ search for relevant studies; and to propose areas for future studies within this area. In addition, we provide IT managers with useful information on ITSM and ITIL, based on research-based knowledge of their implementation. The review results suggest that motives, critical success factors, implementation status, and benefits are the most frequently studied areas, and that each of these areas would benefit from further exposure.     

Knowledge sharing and rewards: a game-theoretical perspective

Shared databases are used as tools for knowledge management. But contributing knowledge to the database is a public-goods dilemma. Its specific features are multidimensionality of the goods, resource overlap, interdependency of group members and the lack of a marginal unit of return for individual contributions. An analytical model is presented describing the individual- and group-level payoff function. It shows that rewarding contributions with a cost-compensating bonus can be an effective solution not only at the individual level, but also at the group level. Whether or not a bonus system is self-supporting depends on the critical mass of people on average needing a contribution. This depends on the overlap of the people's resources and their interdependency.     

Modeling High-Quality Knowledge Sharing in cross-functional software development teams

We present and empirically validate a Coopetitive Model of Knowledge Sharing that helps understand the forces underlying High-Quality Knowledge Sharing in multiparty software development teams. More specifically, we integrate the Coopetitive Model of Knowledge Sharing and Social Interdependence Theory to explain the forces behind High-Quality Knowledge Sharing in cross-functional software development teams. Based on the analysis of data collected from 115 software development project managers, we explore the mechanisms through which simultaneous cooperative and competitive behaviors drive High-Quality Knowledge Sharing among cross-functional team members. We also show how multiple interdependencies that are simultaneously set in motion engender cooperative and competitive behaviors. This study is the first study that encompasses both the antecedents of simultaneous cooperative and behaviors and the mechanisms through which simultaneous cooperation and competition influence knowledge sharing behaviors. The model adds to the emerging contingency perspective pertaining to the study of cooperation and competition in system development teams.     

Blockchain technology and gender equality: A systematic literature review

This study examines the literary corpus on the role and potential of blockchain technology in promoting gender equality through the lens of new technology-oriented corporate governance models. It investigates if and how corporate governance models can include blockchain technology to add value to gender equality and inclusion processes, in line with Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5. A bibliometric analysis of a database—containing 127 articles, 4 United Nations reports, 3 European institutions’ reports, 1 International Labour Office report, 1 World Economic Forum report, and 4 industry reports useful to our analysis—was conducted from 1990 to 2021, to provide a map of the knowledge generated and circulated by the literature. This study offers insights into publication activities, essential topics, citation trends, and the status of collaborations between contributors to previous research and aggregated contributions to the area of blockchain technology studies. Furthermore, the study offers a retrospective analysis of the content published in the blockchain technology field. The findings indicate that field research has focussed primarily on blockchain’s economic and financial attributes but not on social potential. This study emphasises the implementation of blockchain technology to manage gender equality and inclusion processes by orienting corporate governance models towards social and sustainable values.     

Continuance intention of online technologies: A systematic literature review

Given the dynamic nature of digital technologies, understanding why users intend to continue to use them or not is important for practitioners and academics alike. This paper presents an up-to-date Systematic Literature Review (SLR) of Continuance Intention (CI) for online technologies. The SLR classifies and analyses 147 relevant articles on CI in the field of online technology. It analyses papers according to the type of online technology as well as four groups of antecedents (psychological, technological, social, and behavioral) of CI and reviews the consequences of CI. Based on the SLR, the paper outlines two broad directions for future research relating to a conceptual framework and research design, highlighting promising research areas linked to the new features of emerging technologies, such as hyper-connectivity, and intention-behavior gaps.     

Knowledge sharing in a cross-cultural context: Nordic expatriates in Japan

Although the scholarly discussion increases our understanding about aspects involved in the management of knowledge, relatively little is known about knowledge sharing in a cross-cultural context. Yet, attitudes about knowledge sharing as well as knowledge sharing behavior have been identified in related research as varying across cultural contexts. The purpose of this paper is to shed light on the aspects that influence the act of making knowledge available to others in a cross-cultural context. The empirical part of the study, consisting of semi-structured interviews with 30 Nordic expatriates and eight Japanese managers in Japan indicates that language differences, status hierarchies, collectivism, and logical differences can create barriers to knowledge sharing. Managerial implications and suggestions for future research are offered.     

Social media analytics and business intelligence research: A systematic review

Evidently, online voice of customers (VoC) expressed in social media has emerged as quality data for researchers who are willing to conduct customer-driven business intelligence (BI) research. Nevertheless, to the best of authors’ knowledge, there is still a dearth of studies that deal with such remarkable research stream and address various open data (e.g., social media, intellectual property) from a BI research perspective. Therefore, this study has attempted to evaluate the applicability of social media data in BI research and provide a systematic review on the primary research articles in the domain. This study compared social media data with the other open data (e.g., gray literature, public government data) in terms of data content, collection, updatability and structure, which are determined through a thorough discussion with experts. Next, this study selected 57 social media-based BI research articles from the Web of Science (WoS) database and analyzed them with three research questions about the data, methodologies, and results to understand this research domain. Our findings are expected to inform the existing researchers in the research domain about the future research directions, enable newcomers to understand the overall process of analyzing social media data, and provide the practitioners with social media analysis approaches suitable for their environment.