4.3.1 Structural-Self-Interaction Matrix (SSIM)
The ISM methodology was applied using experts’ perspectives to examine the contextual relationship between the RE security practice’s core categories. We formed an expert group to gain their insight on ISM. An invitation letter was used to invite participants to the initial survey. Thirteen of the most knowledgeable individuals in the field offered to participate in the decision-making process. The participants come from various research and development sectors and industry practitioners. We built the SSIM matrix based on the opinions of the experts.
There is a possibility that the study’s findings cannot be generalized due to the small sample size. However, we discovered that Kannan et al. [42] utilized the recommendations of five experts to choose reverse logistic providers. Similarly, Soni et al. [54] assembled a group of nine experts to investigate the aspects of an urban rail transit system that contributed to its complexity. Attri et al. [55] decided on the success elements for complete productive maintenance using the data that five experts provided. Azeem et al. [47] applied the ISM approach to study the relationships among the core categories of the challenges in DevSecOps. Similarly, other researchers also use the ISM approach to find the interrelationship between the DevOps testing process [41] and best test practices [40].
The following symbols indicate the direction of a relationship between a RE enabler (m and n) in the appropriate SSD context.
We have designed the SSIM shown in Table 2 based on the comments of industry professionals.