Factors affecting individual job performance of software developers in Gauteng, South Africa

Abstract

Orientation The orientation of the study lies towards the human resources and managerial fields and focuses on the work performance of individual software developers within the Gauteng area of South Africa. The study attempts to address the question: “Which factors are important in contributing to the individual work performance of a software developer, and how important are each of these factors?”.

Research Purpose The purpose of the research is to identify and quantify the magnitude and statistical significance of factors that affect the individual job performance of software developers.

Motivation for the study There is a gap in existing academic literature on individual job performance for software developers. The motivation for the study is to contribute to this gap in knowledge. Results from the study could likely assist in reshaping human resource development and recruitment practises in the software development field.

Research approach/design and method Software developers were surveyed and scored against a set criterion for performance. Factors that have been noted in literature to influence individual job performance, as well as factors stemming from informal conversation with those in the industry were measured at an individual level. A correlation and a stepwise exploratory regression analysis were used to identify and quantify factors influencing job performance of the individual software developer.

Main findings Individual Performance was found to be a multilinear and complicated variable to quantify. Instead, the variable was broken up into task performance and contextual performance with total performance some superposition of both variables. Self-Esteem, Achievement Motivation and Work-Life Balance were noted as the most important personal factors in determining task performance. Self-Esteem and Job Satisfaction were considered the most important factors in determining contextual performance. Notably, quality of education, formal or informal, had no correlation to performance.

Practical/managerial implications Self-Esteem was a high-quality predictor of both task and contextual performance. For this reason, further study at corporate level is strongly suggested to find ways of improving or fostering this personal attribute to maximise software developer performance. A similar argument can be made for Achievement Motivation and Job Satisfaction. Overall, the study highlighted and provided empirical evidence supporting fostering and maintaining good emotional health within the workplace. In turn, this will lead to higher individual job performance scores. The results also challenge the widespread practise of only appointing and recruiting degreed candidates for junior software developer roles, as there is no supporting evidence to suggest higher educated individuals have higher task or contextual performance scores