Exploring Social Sustainability Alignment in Software Development Projects

Ana Carolina Moises de Souza, Kaban Koochakpour, Sofia Papavlasopoulou, Letizia Jaccheri

2024

Abstract

Socially sustainable software, developed with an emphasis on individual well-being, social justice, and social development, can positively impact society. In order to develop real-world software projects, a software engineering course was established to connect students and companies. This course allows students to address sustainability issues by creating solutions for problems proposed by companies, who are treated as customers. This study explores the alignment of students and customers about social sustainability. An analysis of twelve project proposals and twelve final reports from 67 students revealed that seven customers explicitly mentioned social sustainability. Surprisingly, only three student groups incorporated it into their projects. Two groups addressed the concerns raised by customers, and one proactively tackled social sustainability despite no explicit demand. This study presents a novel approach that integrates social sustainability into software engineering, evaluating alignment between customer demands and student responses. Discussions cover potential challenges and improvements in the software development process, proposing initial steps toward a foundational guideline for active engagement in social sustainability by both students and companies.

Paper Citation

in Harvard Style

Moises de Souza A., Koochakpour K., Papavlasopoulou S. and Jaccheri L. (2024). Exploring Social Sustainability Alignment in Software Development Projects. In Proceedings of the 19th International Conference on Evaluation of Novel Approaches to Software Engineering - Volume 1: ENASE; ISBN 978-989-758-696-5, SciTePress, pages 250-261. DOI: 10.5220/0012739600003687

in Bibtex Style

@conference{enase24,
author={Ana Carolina Moises de Souza and Kaban Koochakpour and Sofia Papavlasopoulou and Letizia Jaccheri},
title={Exploring Social Sustainability Alignment in Software Development Projects},
booktitle={Proceedings of the 19th International Conference on Evaluation of Novel Approaches to Software Engineering - Volume 1: ENASE},
year={2024},
pages={250-261},
publisher={SciTePress},
organization={INSTICC},
doi={10.5220/0012739600003687},
isbn={978-989-758-696-5},
}

in EndNote Style

TY - CONF

JO - Proceedings of the 19th International Conference on Evaluation of Novel Approaches to Software Engineering - Volume 1: ENASE
TI - Exploring Social Sustainability Alignment in Software Development Projects
SN - 978-989-758-696-5
AU - Moises de Souza A.
AU - Koochakpour K.
AU - Papavlasopoulou S.
AU - Jaccheri L.
PY - 2024
SP - 250
EP - 261
DO - 10.5220/0012739600003687
PB - SciTePress