Title: The impact of national culture on software engineering practices

Authors: Aileen Cater-Steel, Mark Toleman

Addresses: Faculty of Business, School of Information Systems, University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba 4350, Australia. ' Faculty of Business, School of Information Systems, University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba 4350, Australia

Abstract: Trends that have contributed to the globalisation of the software engineering industry include virtual collaborative teams, off-shore outsourcing, and international migration of IT professionals. These three trends and the international spread of software engineering standards and methodologies are explored with specific examples from the Australian software engineering industry. Results from a Europe/Australia study about adoption of software best practice conducted in 16 countries are then summarised and analysed using Hofstede|s cultural dimensions. The discussion considers the efficacy of the concept |national culture| in light of the analysis and concludes that software engineering researchers need to reconsider the concept and measurement of national culture. Implications of the globalisation of software engineering standards and methodologies on various stakeholders are discussed.

Keywords: national culture; Hofstede; globalisation; software best practice; software engineering; global software development; software development standards; virtual teams; off-shore software development; outsourcing; Australia.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTPM.2008.016182

International Journal of Technology, Policy and Management, 2008 Vol.8 No.1, pp.76 - 90

Published online: 08 Dec 2007 *

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