The Affect of Software Developers: Common Misconceptions and Measurements
It tackles the problem of accurately measuring affects in software developers, which is crucial for improving job satisfaction and well-being in the software engineering domain, but it is incremental as it builds on existing research.
The paper addresses the lack of understanding of affects (emotions, moods) in software developers by identifying common misconceptions and providing validated measurement instruments and recommendations for affect measurement in the workplace.
The study of affects (i.e., emotions, moods) in the workplace has received a lot of attention in the last 15 years. Despite the fact that software development has been shown to be intellectual, creative, and driven by cognitive activities, and that affects have a deep influence on cognitive activities, software engineering research lacks an understanding of the affects of software developers. This note provides (1) common misconceptions of affects when dealing with job satisfaction, motivation, commitment, well-being, and happiness; (2) validated measurement instruments for affect measurement; and (3) our recommendations when measuring the affects of software developers.