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Top1. Introduction
Software product lines (SPLs) are emerging as an attractive methodology within many organizations that deal with the software development and increase the productivity of the software development process and. A software product line is a comprehensive model for an organization building applications based on common architecture and core assets (Wappler, 2000). Most studies have focused on the SPL process methodology including, product line architecture, commonality and variability management, core assets management, business case engineering, application and domain engineering, etc (Bosch, 2000; Clements & Northrop, 2002; Jazayeri et al., 2000; Weiss & Lai, 1999). However, introducing a new practice such as SPL is relatively difficult in the existing setup of an organization if it is not being introduced with a proper organizational management plan. Even the best strategy is bound to fail if there is a consistent resistance to innovation and new technology from within the organization. Clements and Northrop (2002) emphasize that institutionalizing a new methodology such as SPL from the perspective of managing and developing a core assets repository for SPL involves improving the processes that are associated with building, maintaining, and evolving the core assets and those processes must become a part of standard organizational practice.
Most researchers who are interested in organizational dimension of SPL mainly highlight that domain-engineering unit and several application-engineering units are required from an organizational structure viewpoint. They involve organizational model (Bosch, 2001), strategic planning (Macala et al., 1996), staffing issues (Dikel et al., 1997), and roles and responsibilities of personnel (Jacobsen et al., 1997; Birk et al., 2003).
In the software industry involving SPL, the technology is changing at an unprecedented rate of growth. The business, economic and technological events tend to force changes within the organization. The changes can be in strategy, organizational structure, process methodology, and technology or even in the organizational goals. Beckhard and Harris (1987) consider organizational change as movement from the present state of the organization to some future or target state. Todd (1999) defines change management as a structured and systematic approach, which provides a conceptual framework that encompasses strategy, politics, people and process. Cao et al. (2000) observe that organizational change shows a diversity of the organization in its environment.
The business, economic and technological events tend to force changes within the organization. It requires the interaction of the technical and human activities within the organization. Especially, software organizations are more inclined towards learning new technology, methodology and processes in order to keep themselves up-to-date with the latest state of the art practice. One of the key concepts of social learning theory is self-efficacy: a belief in one’s capability of performing a specific task (Bandura, 1986). Research findings suggest that individuals who have high self-efficacy tend to perform better than individuals low in self-efficacy (Barling et al., 1996: Taylor et al., 1984). Therefore, self-efficacy is likely to influence SPL performance positively.