Title: Development of measures of the software developer's competencies in Indian information technology industry

Authors: Manasi Shukla

Addresses: The Institute of Knowledge & Innovation South-East Asia, Bangkok University, Rama 4 Road, Klong Toei, Bangkok 10110, Thailand

Abstract: In this paper, the software developer competencies (SDC) are defined and operationalised. The software developer literature establishes five competency streams of software developer: the quality concern, problem resolution, team work, customer service and future orientation. Factor analysis of the software developer's competencies is carried out to confirm their significance. A survey is conducted in the software project groups of Indian software industry to develop, validate and confirm the SDC instrument. The data is analysed using LISREL 8 software to establish the face, convergent, discriminant, predictive and concurrent validity of the SDC instrument. The results attained not only confirm the significance of SDC but also establish its validity. It is imperative for a firm's competitive advantage to recognise SDC as a measure of employee success, since it is relatively inimitable in the software industry. Furthermore, this enables assessment of high achievers in a more objective manner in the software industry.

Keywords: software development; software industry; software developer competencies; inimitability; skills; information technology; IT industry; India.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMP.2014.063593

International Journal of Management Practice, 2014 Vol.7 No.3, pp.181 - 203

Published online: 17 Jul 2014 *

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