Who should pay for technical debt? Exploring software professionals perceptions about technical debt accountability

IF 4.7 2区管理学 Q1 INFORMATION SCIENCE & LIBRARY SCIENCE

Information and Organization Pub Date : 2025-08-13 DOI:10.1016/j.infoandorg.2025.100589

Hadi Ghanbari , Suchit Ahuja , Bokyung Lee , James Gaskin

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Technical debt (TD) highlights the consequences of suboptimal design decisions made during Information Systems (IS) development. Despite reducing IS quality, if taken strategically and managed proactively, TD enables firms to gain a competitive advantage in the short-term. However, if taken without strategic intent and left unresolved, TD can lead to significant costs in the long-term. Previous studies mainly examine TD accumulation at the organizational level and its latent costs to the organization. However, considering the crucial role of individuals in IS development, further research is needed to provide us with a theoretical understanding of TD that is accumulated because of unnecessary shortcuts taken by software professionals without any strategic intent. To explore this costly concern, we interviewed 25 software professionals across industry domains and from all three global regions. Using accountability theory as a lens, we conducted thematic analysis and qualitative comparative analysis to uncover the participants' perceptions of responsibilities and accountability issues associated with the accumulation and management of TD. Our analysis shows that software professionals' perception of TD accountability is influenced by 1) the extent to which prospective and retrospective accountability mechanisms are established in organizations and the way they are followed (i.e., bureaucratically vs. democratically) and 2) the extent to which collective culture emphasizes the importance of ensuring software quality and promotes compliance with quality rules. Thus, we propose TD accountability as a crucial coordination and consensus building mechanism for promoting a quality culture in development teams and facilitating appropriate accumulation and management of TD in organizations. In addition to contributing to IS literature, we provide insights for organizations to coordinate the accumulation and management of TD.

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谁应该为技术债务买单？探索软件专业人员对技术债务责任的看法

技术债务（TD）强调了在信息系统（IS）开发期间所做的次优设计决策的后果。尽管降低了信息系统的质量，但如果采取战略和主动管理，信息技术可以使公司在短期内获得竞争优势。然而，如果在没有战略意图的情况下实施，并且不加以解决，从长远来看，输配电可能会导致巨大的成本。以往的研究主要考察组织层面的技术开发积累及其对组织的潜在成本。然而，考虑到个人在信息系统开发中的关键作用，需要进一步的研究来为我们提供由于软件专业人员在没有任何战略意图的情况下采取不必要的捷径而积累的TD的理论理解。为了探究这个代价高昂的问题，我们采访了来自全球三个地区的25位跨行业的软件专业人士。我们以问责理论为视角，通过专题分析和定性比较分析，揭示了参与者对TD积累和管理相关的责任和问责问题的认知。我们的分析表明，软件专业人员对软件开发责任的感知受到以下因素的影响：1)在组织中建立前瞻性和回顾性责任机制的程度以及遵循这些机制的方式（即，官僚主义vs.民主主义）；2)集体文化强调确保软件质量的重要性并促进对质量规则的遵从的程度。因此，我们建议开发团队问责制作为一种重要的协调和共识建立机制，以促进开发团队的质量文化，并促进组织中开发团队的适当积累和管理。除了贡献IS文献外，我们还为组织协调TD的积累和管理提供了见解。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Information and Organization Multiple-

CiteScore

11.20

自引率

1.60%

发文量

期刊介绍： Advances in information and communication technologies are associated with a wide and increasing range of social consequences, which are experienced by individuals, work groups, organizations, interorganizational networks, and societies at large. Information technologies are implicated in all industries and in public as well as private enterprises. Understanding the relationships between information technologies and social organization is an increasingly important and urgent social and scholarly concern in many disciplinary fields.Information and Organization seeks to publish original scholarly articles on the relationships between information technologies and social organization. It seeks a scholarly understanding that is based on empirical research and relevant theory.