Investigating the Maturity of RE Practices and the Adoption of Human Values in Industry from the Perspective of Software Engineering Practitioners

Rawabi Alwadani, Malak Baslyman*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

In the past, the focus of developing software applications was mainly on collecting, analyzing, and implementing user and business requirements. Nowadays, with the unlimited variety of software applications that serve the same purpose, it has become essential to go beyond user requirements to incorporate their emotions and values to ensure the use of those applications. However, the paucity of addressing the incorporation of human values into software engineering practices, in the literature and in the industry, makes it challenging to understand how to do it. Hence, in this study, we attempted to understand the level of adopting human values in software engineering activities, perceived usefulness, opportunities, and challenges in practice. In addition, we empirically investigated the relationship between the maturity level of the Requirements Engineering (RE) practices and the adoption of human values. To achieve those goals, we designed a survey that was distributed to software industry practitioners; 51 complete responses were received. The results showed that there is a positive relationship between the maturity level of RE and the adoption of human values. Also, most participants agreed that incorporating human values into the software design cycle is important; however, the lack of proven effective techniques and practices to capture and analyze the values are two of the main obstacles to adopting human values in practice.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)3633-3649
Number of pages17
JournalArabian Journal for Science and Engineering
Volume49
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 2024

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals 2023.

Keywords

  • Engineering human values
  • Human values
  • Human values in software practice
  • Requirements engineering

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General

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