Social Sustainability Approaches for Software Development: A Systematic Literature Review

Abstract

Social aspects in software sustainability refer to the impact of the software on the broader social and societal context. These aspects involve considerations such as accessibility, equity, inclusion, diversity, ethical and human values. While achieving software sustainability requires developers to embrace approaches that support the three dimensions of sustainability, there remains a lack of concrete approaches to address social aspects during software development. This literature review aims to facilitate the integration of social aspects into the software development process by identifying approaches related to social sustainability in software engineering. We extracted and analyzed data from 19 studies through thematic syntheses. The results of our analysis provide a list of recommended tools and practices to support social aspects and attain software sustainability goals. By incorporating these approaches into software development, we ensure that the software is not only technically sustainable but also socially responsible from a human perspective.