Gascoyne, Anneli. 2019. The Development and Validation of a Measure of Organisational Flexibility. Doctoral thesis, Goldsmiths, University of London [Thesis]

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Abstract or Description

This thesis describes four empirical studies designed to develop and validate a scale to measure organisational flexibility, and a protocol study designed to guide an initial assessment of the scale’s utility. The organisational flexibility scale (OFS) was developed to reflect a theoretical model (Bond, 2015), guided by contextual behavioural science, for predicting and influencing individual and organisational effectiveness and wellbeing. Results from the analysis of two distinct samples support the structure, reliability and validity of the OFS. From an initial sample of 303 individuals, results of an exploratory factor analysis indicate a scale with a unidimensional, seven-item structure. From a second sample of 331 individuals, from 31 organisations, results of a multilevel confirmatory factor analysis support the proposed structure, at both the individual and organisational levels. Data from the second sample also support the scale’s reliability and validity. In terms of construct validity, results indicate a small-to-moderate relationship with psychological flexibility, and a very strong relationship with people’s perceptions of their organisations’ shared vision, open-mindedness, and commitment to learning (components of organisational learning). Yet the relationships between the OFS and the latter constructs are sufficiently distinct to be able to discriminate between them. In terms of criterion-related validity, results indicate that the OFS significantly predicts individuals’ mental health. They also indicate that the OFS significantly predicts individual and collective work motivation and job satisfaction, and individual and shared perceptions of organisational performance. Furthermore, the OFS offers incremental prediction beyond psychological flexibility and organisational learning. In order to further this research towards an assessment of the utility of the OFS, this thesis has proposed that a pilot intervention study is conducted, and it provides a protocol for doing so. The overall implications of these findings are discussed, for their relevance in future research and practice.

Item Type:	Thesis (Doctoral)
Identification Number (DOI):	https://doi.org/10.25602/GOLD.00026371
Keywords:	Organisational flexibility, Psychological flexibility, Organisational behaviour, Organisational effectiveness, Wellbeing, Questionnaire, Scale development, Multilevel analysis
Departments, Centres and Research Units:	Institute of Management Studies
Date:	30 April 2019
Item ID:	26371
Date Deposited:	30 May 2019 11:57
Last Modified:	07 Sep 2022 17:14
URI:	https://research.gold.ac.uk/id/eprint/26371

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