Exploratory analysis of cultural influences on requirements engineering activities based on stakeholders’ profile

Abstract

Abstract Requirements Engineering (RE) is a critical process in the development of any software. It requires intensive communication among many stakeholders in order to identify software requirements accurately. As RE activities require intensive communication, cultural influences might need to be considered to improve these activities and to avoid issues that might affect the software project outcomes. In our work, we explored the influence of national culture on RE activities. We conducted an empirical study in two countries that have different cultural profiles: Saudi Arabia and Australia. To explore this issue, we conducted 41 face-to-face interviews. To consolidate the collected data, we conducted also 30 follow-up interviews with the same practitioners. The aim of our study was to empirically identify the set of cultural influences affecting RE activities, and analyse their implication on RE activities. This paper reports the results of the analysis of participants’ responses with respect to their industrial profiles, in terms of three factors: the type of software methodology applied by the participants (Traditional vs. Agile), the size of their company/organisation (small, medium, and large), and its type (private vs. government). The results showed a number of significant differences in the cultural influences that determine the type of software development methodology, i.e., Traditional or Agile, being applied within the corresponding company. In this paper, we discuss the identified differences and the factors that determine them. This in-depth analysis provides a broader examination of the influence of culture on RE activities, which might assist RE practitioners to select the most suitable RE practices/methodology to overcome any negative effects of these influences.