Expectations between parties playing similar roles in global software development: a psychological contract perspective.

Global software development (GSD), as a mode of information systems development, surfaces various challenges and benefits that are not always present in co-located teams. A psychological contract reflects the written and unwritten expectations, or obligations, of collaborating parties in a transaction. This paper uncovers a set of candidate obligations that make up the psychological contract of parties collaborating in global software development efforts (the GSD psychological contract). Particular focus is applied to certain development roles: business analyst, designer, developer and development-support. A qualitative research approach is employed against various incidents that occurred in development projects performed by a global software product development organization. Finally, opportunities for future research are presented.