Supporting Emotional Intelligence, Productivity and Team Goals while Handling Requirements Changes in Software Engineering Contexts
Research shows that emotional intelligence (EI) should be used alongside agility and cognitive intelligence during requirements change (RC) handling in Software Engineering (SE).
Objective: We wanted to study the role of EI in-depth during RC handling.
Method: We conducted a mixed-methods study (an interview study followed by a survey study) with 124 software practitioners.
Findings: We found the causal condition, intervening condition and causes lead to key direct consequences of regulating own emotions, managing relationships, and extended consequences of sustaining productivity, setting and sustaining team goals.
We found several contingencies including strategies of supporting EI during RC handling. Further, we found strong correlations between six strategies and one being aware of own emotions, regulating own emotions, sustaining team productivity, and setting and sustaining team goals.
Conclusion: EI during RC handling. Empathising with others and tracking commitments and decisions as a team are key strategies that have strong correlations between managing emotions, between sustaining team productivity, and between setting and sustaining team goals.
To the best of our knowledge, the framework we present in this paper is the first theoretical framework on EI in SE research. We provide recommendations for software practitioners to consider during RC handling.