Global and task effects in information-seeking among software engineers

Information-seeking strategies were explored in software engineers. A complex interaction of task and geographic differences was revealed. There is a general tendency across software engineers to favor non-social sources, such as documentation, for tasks where the goal is to seek factual information. More social sources are preferred when seeking information to diagnostic, problem-solving questions. Within this effect, some geographic variations assert themselves in a way that might partly be interpreted in terms of national cultural differences in Individualism vs. Collectivism. Implications of geographic differences in information-seeking for collaboration within global software development teams are discussed.