| Motivating software engineers is a primary concern for business leaders. Motivated employees lead to higher organizational efficiencies, lower turnover, and increased productivity. However, the motivations of software engineers in a business organization context are not fully understood. This difficulty is compounded when project managers and business leaders have different motivators than the software engineers they motivate. Software engineers also demonstrate different levels of educational attainment, which may lead to different primary motivational factors. This research examined the primary motivators of software engineers. The research utilizes a quantitative research design utilizing a validated survey instrument to determine the primary motivators of software engineers and determine if there is a correlation between the motivational factors and the educational background. After distribution, 1054 software engineers fully completed the survey instrument. Educational attainment correlated with Interpersonal Interactions (r = .187, p < .01), General Working Conditions (r = -.514, p < .01), Empowerment (r = .579, p < .01), Personal Development (r = -.560, p < .01), and Compensation (r = -.403, p < .01). Intrinsic motivational factors were found to be more influential than extrinsic motivational factors across all educational attainment levels. Further, the higher the level of educational attainment, the more emphasis was placed on intrinsic motivators. |
