The Successful Diffusion of Innovations: Guidance for Software Development Organizations

0 7 4 0 7 4 5 9 / 0 0 / $ 1 0 . 0 0 © 2 0 0 0 I E E E abandoned. Researchers have noted this issue’s importance in studies on Computer Aided Software Engineering tools1–3 and on object-oriented,4 user-centered,5 and formal development techniques.6 Here, we focus on why this happens—and how we can prevent it. Our motivation is to better understand the phenomenon of innovative information technology diffusion so that we can better inform software development managers on how to ensure the successful use and diffusion of beneficial software development techniques in their organizations. Solutions to the problems of software development must include the human (peopleware and good management practices) as well as technical dimensions. Thus, a basic premise is that an effective strategy for IT diffusion must integrate technical research in software engineering with relevant behavioral research in the information systems field. A large body of research on the diffusion and use of IT in organizations exists. Here, we expand the concept of IT to include software development techniques that can be innovations to the community of software developers. Thus, we can study software development practices under the guidance of well-established organizational theory. We hope to integrate behavioral IS research on IT diffusion with software engineering research on it by developing a comprehensive research model.