Does management support drive sustained agile usage? a serial mediation model and cIPMA perspective.

Area of Science:

• Software Engineering
• Organizational Psychology

Background:

• Agile software development is widely adopted but often faces challenges in long-term sustainment.
• Human factors such as management support, training, mindset, and resilience are critical but underexplored in agile success.
• Existing research lacks in-depth understanding of the mechanisms linking these factors to sustained agile practices.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the impact of management support on sustained agile methodology usage in software teams.
• To investigate the mediating roles of agile training, agile mindset, and team resilience in this relationship.
• To compare the importance and performance of these antecedents and determine their necessity for agile success.

Main Methods:

• Data collected from 391 agile software development professionals via a structured questionnaire.
• Analysis employed partial-least-squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM).
• Importance-Performance Map Analysis (IPMA) and Necessary Condition Analysis (NCA) were utilized to assess relationships and necessity.

Main Results:

• Management support significantly influences the infusion of agile practices.
• Agile training, mindset, and team resilience act as critical serial mediators, demonstrating a strong interconnected effect.
• While management support is vital, its practical application within teams is often insufficient.
• All four antecedents—management support, training, mindset, and resilience—are necessary for optimal agile sustainment.

Conclusions:

• This study introduces a novel serial mediation model, advancing theoretical understanding of agile infusion mechanisms at the team level.
• Findings highlight the critical necessity of management support, agile training, mindset, and resilience for enduring agile success.
• The research offers actionable insights for practitioners by detailing the relative importance, performance, and necessity of these factors, supported by methodological guidance for IPMA and NCA in agile research.