18 days away. On the big calendar. Exciting and terrifying (and you can watch it live apparently on on Zoom).

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Abstract

The software industry, long a symbol of creativity and innovation, now grapples with a paradox. Once defined by exploratory creativity, the field is increasingly dominated by efficiency-driven methods and rigid development approaches. Developers, drawn to the intellectual challenges of building novel solutions, often find their creativity reduced to productivity metrics. Agile and open-source development approaches, heralded as engines of innovation, may unintentionally prioritize incremental outcomes over transformative ideas. This tension between structure and creativity threatens not only developers’ potential but the industry’s ability to deliver meaningful innovation. Without addressing this gap, the tools and development approaches that dominate today’s software development landscape may fail to achieve their most critical promise: supporting developers in exploratory creativity required in crafting genuinely novel and impactful software.

This gap is central to this dissertation, investigating how modern development approaches shape individual creativity into project-level innovative outcomes. Drawing on multi-level interactionist theories of creativity, we examine the conditions under which individual, team, and organizational interactions foster or constrain creativity. By addressing this critical gap, the research aims to reimagine development approaches as catalysts for radical innovation rather than constraints, ensuring the industry can sustain its creative and transformative legacy.

Employing a sequential exploratory mixed-methods research design, our approach leverages qualitative and quantitative techniques to explore the complex social phenomena around software development, aligning with the Information System discipline’s emphasis on methodological diversity in addressing confirmatory and exploratory research questions.

Each research strand examines creativity and innovation at a distinct analytical level, building a cohesive understanding of these dynamics. The qualitative strand investigates individual developer experiences through 31 semi-structured interviews with professional software engineers using Agile methodologies. The quantitative strand analyzes the impact of cognitive conflict on team performance in open-source software development, leveraging data from 40 projects and 82,949 code commits and interactions. The mixed convergent strand evaluates the interplay of corporate and open governance in open-source approaches, drawing on 40 projects, 10,862 releases, and 15 semi-structured interviews.

By synthesizing findings across these strands, this dissertation delivers robust theoretical contributions and actionable insights into creativity in software development. We challenge the myth of developers as lone ‘rockstars’ or ‘hackers,’ through empirical evidence, demonstrating that development approaches matter and that social interactions during review stages (e.g., pull requests, code reviews) fundamentally shape creativity and innovation. By operationalizing cognitive conflict and release commit novelty, we reveal how social interactions at individual, team, and organizational levels mediate and moderate the non-linear transition from creativity to innovation. Our findings advance theoretical understanding and offer practical strategies for unlocking the innovative potential of modern software development practices.

Keywords: creativity; innovation; software development; cognitive conflict; open source software; governance; agile

Dissertation Defense Committee:
Kalle Lyytinen, Ph.D., Chair, Professor, Design and Innovation
Philip Cola, Ph.D., Professor, Design and Innovation
James Gaskin, Ph.D., Professor, Brigham Young University
Neil Maiden, Ph.D., Professor, University of London
Aron Lindberg, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Stevens Institute of Technology

Biography

Justin Ribeiro is a seasoned innovator with over 30 years of experience driving transformative change across industries, from telecommunications to digital platforms. With a proven track record, he has led open-source projects that fuel global technological progress, including contributions to Chromium, Visual Studio Code, and standards bodies like the W3C and NFC Forum. As a former Google Developer Expert and recognized thought leader in software engineering, Justin has built a career at the intersection of technical expertise and collaborative innovation.

As a DM Design and Innovation Fellow, Justin’s research explores how diverse interactions among developers and stakeholders influence creativity and innovation in software development approaches. His recent work, presented at the International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS), highlights his commitment to bridging theory and practice to tackle complex challenges in modern software development. A passionate mentor, speaker, and open-source advocate, Justin remains dedicated to advancing inclusive and innovative practices that shape the future of software.

Justin makes his home on a small farm in the Central Valley of California with his wife, Monica, and three daughters, Alli, Isa, and Eve. When not writing code or research papers, he can be found being a creative, albeit mediocre, chemist while developing film and prints in his darkroom.