A Quasi-Experimental Evaluation of Coaching to Mitigate the Impostor Phenomenon in Early-Career Software Engineers

2026-02-14

AI Summary

Early-career software engineers are frequently affected by the Impostor Phenomenon (IP), which can adversely impact their psychological well-being and professional development. This study presents the first empirical evaluation of a structured group coaching intervention targeting IP within a software engineering context. Employing a quasi-experimental design with a waitlist control group and non-participant observation, the research assessed 20 participants using multidimensional psychological measures, including the Clance Impostor Phenomenon Scale (CIPS), WHO-5 Well-Being Index, Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS), and Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS). Although the intervention yielded a modest reduction in CIPS scores, the control group exhibited comparable improvements over the same period, suggesting that contextual factors—such as team collaboration and project dynamics—may play a more substantial role in alleviating IP than the coaching itself. These findings offer novel insights into the mechanisms underlying IP in technical workplace settings.

Technology Category

• Application Domains: Software Engineering
• Cognitive Modeling & Cognitive Systems: Social Cognition And Interaction
• Humans and AI: Teamwork, Team formation

Application Category

• User Modeling, Personalization and Recommendation: Attacks and countermeasures in recommendation systems
• Security and Privacy: Large-scale security measurements
• Economics, Online Markets and Human Computation: Trust and reliance of crowd workers and data experts on GenAI

Abstract

Context: The Impostor Phenomenon (IP), the persistent belief of being a fraud despite evident competence, is common in Software Engineering (SE), where high expectations for expertise and innovation prevail. Although coaching and similar interventions are proposed to mitigate IP, empirical evidence in SE remains underexplored. Objective: This study examines the impact of a structured group coaching intervention on reducing IP feelings among early-career software engineers. Method: We conducted a quasi-experiment with 20 participants distributed across two project teams using a wait-list control design, complemented by non-participant observation. The treatment group received a three-session coaching intervention, while the control group received it after an observation phase. IP was assessed using the Clance Impostor Phenomenon Scale (CIPS), alongside evaluated measures of well-being (WHO-5), life satisfaction (SWLS), and affect (PANAS). Results: The coaching resulted in modest reductions in CIPS scores, whereas the control group also improved during the observation phase, suggesting that contextual and temporal factors may have exerted a stronger influence than the formal intervention. Conclusion: These results suggest that coaching may support reflection and awareness related to IP, yet other contextual aspects of team collaboration and project work might also contribute to these changes. This study offers a novel empirical step toward understanding how structured IP interventions operate within SE environments.

Problem

• Impostor Phenomenon
• Software Engineering
• Early-Career Engineers
• Coaching Intervention
• Quasi-Experiment

Innovation

• Impostor Phenomenon
• quasi-experiment
• group coaching
• software engineering
• empirical evaluation