Tacit Knowledge Preservation at Vendor Organizations in Offshore Outsourcing Software Development

Abstract: Context. Tacit knowledge preservation (TKP) is a critical activity in outsourcing business since there is a high possibility of losing business if the personnel turnover rate is high. Objective: This study investigates TKP techniques from both knowledge management (KM) and software engineer (SE) perspectives followed by a discussion on the practicability of these techniques in software industries. The main aim of this research study is to provide a set of recommendations that assists preserving tacit knowledge in offshore outsourcing vendor organizations. Methods: This research combines a systematic literature review with an industrial survey. A systematic literature review (SLR) was employed to identify the TKP techniques in both KM and SE literature. Quasi-gold standard approach was employed as search strategy in SLR. Further, a survey was conducted with industrial practitioners working in offshore outsourcing software development (OOSD) to validate the findings from SLR and to know the additional TKP techniques. Results: A total of 51 TKP techniques were extracted from SLR and no additional techniques were identified from the survey. These 51 techniques were grouped and categorized into two subgroups namely Socialization and Externalization. A recommendation system and model was proposed to make the TKP process mandatory for every software project in an organization. Conclusions: The research provided a wide set of techniques for preserving tacit knowledge but the major contribution is from KM field whereas a little from SE field. The results of SLR and industrial survey revealed that though a sufficient amount of TKP techniques are available the practicability of these techniques in SE organizations is limited in nature. Therefore, we recommend a Software Engineers Rating (SER) system and model to make the TKP process mandatory in every software project that benefits the organization and also to an employee.