Handbook of Management Scales

The Handbook of Management Scales is a collection of previously used multi-item scales to measure constructs in empirical management research literature.

Critical Introduction

The Handbook of Management Scales was first edited by A. Wieland in 2010 and has since grown. It contains a collection of measurement scales, which are the basis for empirical research. Unfortunately, management researchers often neglect the importance of good scales. This leads to models with a high goodness-of-fit but with poor reliabiliy and validity. Construct definition and content validity are probably the most important and most neglected criteria to ensure that a scale really measures what it is intended to measure. Expert judges can help to improve content validity by capturing all important aspects that together encircle a construct.

The deletion of scale items (often called “scale purification”) may improve Cronbach's alpha or the statistical performance indicators of a model. However, important aspects to be measured may then disappear and this can bias the scale into a new direction. Content validity may then be destroyed and must therefore carefully be observed all along the scale purification process. Judges could also be asked to label a new construct giving them the items retained after scale purification to compare the judgement to the intended construct. Content validity may also be improved by adding missing aspects to an existing scale or by merging two existing scales.

Reflective scales often prevail in management research. But researchers should know when to use reflective and when to use formative scales. Too often do researchers specify a model with a reflective scale that is actually formative. Likert scales and semantic differential scales are probably the most common scales in management research. However, researchers often fail to weigh the pros and cons of such scales. Researchers should take more time to think about the appropriate measurement. The Handbook of Management Scales helps to find previously used scales, but will not release the researcher from carefully testing the scales in terms of reliability and validity before using them.

You are invited to contribute by adding new multi-item metrics (edit this page) to this Scales Handbook. Scales from high-ranked journals are preferred that are developed in a systematic scale development process and that are tested to measure a construct in terms of specification (reflective vs. formative), dimensionality, reliability, and validity (including content, convergent, discriminant, and nomological validity). For each scale at least its objective items, source, and, if available, reliability (e.g. Cronbach's alpha, item reliability, composite reliability, average variance extracted) are listed.

Unidimensional constructs

A

• Ability
• Accountability
• Achievement orientation
• Acquiring tacit knowledge through offshore outsourcing
• Advanced manufacturing technology: administrative
• Advanced manufacturing technology: design
• Advanced manufacturing technology: manufacturing
• Affect
• Agreement on vision and goals
• Alliance performance
• Alliance portfolio coordination
• Alliance portfolio performance
• Alliance proactiveness
• Alliance structures
• Alliance transformation
• Amorality
• Apparent sincerity
• Architectural innovation
• Asset specificity

B

• Benchmarking
• Benevolence
• Business process skills
• Buyer assistance
• Buyer communication
• Buying firm's expectation of relationship continuity
• Buying firm's top management support

C

• Capability development
• Capability evaluation
• Cellular layout
• Change disposition
• Change readiness
• Cleanliness and organization
• Commercial uncertainty
• Communication of manufacturing strategy
• Comparative organizational performance
• Competence-enhancing, competence-destroying innovation
• Competitive and market intelligence
• Competitive intensity
• Competitive priority: cost
• Competitive priority: delivery
• Competitive priority: flexibility
• Competitive priority: quality
• Conflict management
• Conflict resolution
• Consensus on appropriation
• Continuous flow
• Continuous improvement
• Contractual completeness
• Contribution
• Cooperation
• Coordinated logistics
• Coordination of decision making
• Cross-functional product design
• Cost performance
• Creative work-family management
• Credibility
• Cross-functional integration
• Customer focus
• Customer interaction
• Customer involvement
• Customer responsiveness

D

• Delivery performance
• Dependence
• Design quality management
• Desire for control
• Desire for status
• Distributive justice
• Distrust of others

E

• Ease of use
• Effect uncertainty
• Emotional support
• Employee empowerment
• Employee involvement
• Employee relations
• Employee training
• ERP training
• Estimated return on investment
• Executive commitment
• Extension

F

• Faithfulness of appropriation
• Feedback
• Feedback self-efficacy
• Firm's financial performance over the past 5 years
• Flexibility performance
• Fluid partnering
• Formal control

G

• General outsourcing
• Generational consolidation
• Generational expansion

H

• Human capital

I

• Imitability
• Ingratiation
• Information acquisition
• Information and communication technologies implementation
• Information distribution
• Information integration
• Information interpretation
• Information sharing
• Information sharing quality
• Information technology experience
• Informational justice
• Innovativeness
• Instrumental support
• Integrity
• Intelligence dissemination
• Intelligence generation
• Interfunctional design process
• Internal quality information usage
• Internet quality
• Interorganizational altruism
• Interorganizational compliance
• Interorganizational coordination
• Interorganizational learning
• Interorganizational loyalty
• Interorganizational tolerance
• Interpersonal influence
• Interpersonal justice
• Intimidation
• IT skills

J

• JIT delivery by suppliers

K

• Knowledge channels

L

• Leader-member exchange
• Leadership
• Leadership involvement in quality
• Learning
• Logistics complexity
• Loyalty

M

• Management leadership
• Manufacturing process innovation implementation performance
• Market acuity
• Market volatility
• Marketing proficiency
• Marketing synergy
• Measurement system
• Mobility flexibility
• Multi-functional employees

N

• New application technology
• New competence acquisition
• New product quality
• New service development
• New service development culture
• New service development process focus
• New service development strategy
• Network technology
• Networking ability

O

• Offline store atmosphere
• Offline store merchandise
• Offline store layout
• Offline store service
• Online store atmosphere
• Online store merchandise
• Online store navigation
• Online store service
• Organizational memory
• Output control
• Outsourcing intent

P

• Perceived delegation
• Perceived product commercial success
• Performance
• Proactive cost improvement
• Proactive improvement
• Proactive performance improvement
• Proactiveness
• Procedural justice
• Process control
• Process management
• Processes and equipment development
• Product competitive advantage
• Product complexity
• Product or service design
• Product quality
• Professional respect
• Product design simplicity
• Project management
• Pull
• Purchase intention

Q

• Quality data and reporting
• Quality improvement rewards
• Quality leadership
• Quality of information exchanged
• Quality performance

R

• Radical innovation
• Range flexibility
• Recruiting and selection for flexible employees
• Referral
• Relational commitment
• Relationship management
• Response uncertainty
• Responsiveness
• Retention
• Reward system
• Risk and reward sharing
• Risk taking
• Role ambiguity
• Role model

S

• Sales performance
• Search for new technologies
• Selection for teamwork potential
• Service culture
• Service processes
• Service quality
• Service standards
• Set up time reduction
• Skepticism
• Social astuteness
• Social awareness
• Social control
• Specific assets
• State uncertainty
• Statistical process control
• Statistical process control usage
• Strategic IT planning
• Strategic purchasing
• Strategic risk assessment
• Supervisee trust
• Supervisor accessibility
• Supervisory interaction facilitation
• Supplication
• Supplier commitment
• Supplier development
• Supplier evaluation systems
• Supplier feedback
• Supplier performance
• Supplier quality management
• Supplier relationship
• Supply base availability
• Switching costs

T

• Team psychological safety
• Teamwork
• Technical proficiency
• Technical skills
• Technical synergy
• Technological uncertainty
• Time savings
• Top management commitment
• Top management support
• Total productive and preventive maintenance
• Training
• Transaction-specific supplier development activities
• Trust

U

• Uniqueness
• Usefulness
• Utility

V

• Value orientation

W

• Worker expertise

Multidimensional constructs

The list in the previous section contains scales to measure constructs that were often conceptualized as dimensions of multidimensional constructs (mostly second-order constructs). The following list contains the name of multidimensional constructs and the names of their dimensions.

A

• Advanced manufacturing technology: administrative, design, manufacturing
• Alliance management capability: Interorganizational coordination, Alliance portfolio coordination, Interorganizational learning, Alliance proactiveness, Alliance transformation

B

• Business-to-business seller competence (B2B-SC): technical skills, change disposition, conflict management, market acuity, coordinated logistics, knowledge channels, fluid partnering

C

• Competitive priority: cost, delivery, flexibility, quality
• Control: formal control, social control

E

• Enterprise resource planning (ERP) competence: strategic IT planning, executive commitment, project management, IT skills, business process skills, ERP training, learning, change readiness
• Entrepreneurial orientation: innovativeness, proactiveness

F

• Family supportive supervisor behaviors (FSSB): emotional support, instrumental support, role modeling behaviors, creative work-family management
• Feedback orientation scale (FOS): utility, accountability, social awareness, feedback self-efficacy

H

• Human resource policy: human capital, reward system

I

• Integrated quality management: top management commitment, customer focus, supplier quality management, design quality management, benchmarking, SPC usage, internal quality information usage, employee empowerment, employee involvement, employee training, product quality, supplier performance
• Intellectual capital: Worker expertise, information sharing quality, team psychological safety
• Interorganizational citizenship behaviors (ICBs): interorganizational altruism, interorganizational tolerance, interorganizational loyalty, interorganizational compliance

J

• Justice: procedual, distributive, interpersonal, informational justice

L

• Leader-member exchange (LMX): affect, loyalty, contribution, professional respect
• Lean production: continuous flow, customer involvement, employee involvement, JIT delivery by suppliers, pull, set up time reduction, statistical process control, supplier development, supplier feedback, total productive/preventive maintenance

M

• Machiavellian personality scale (MPS): distrust of others, amorality, desire for control, desire for status
• Market focus: market acuity, relationship management, new service development
• Market orientation scale (MO): intelligence generation, intelligence dissemination, responsiveness
• Metrics and standards: measurement system, service standards

N

• New service development competence: new service development process focus, market acuity, new service development strategy, new service development culture, information technology experience

O

• Organizational learning: information acquisition, information distribution, information interpretation, information integration, organizational memory

P

• Perceived environmental uncertainty (PEU): state uncertainty, effect uncertainty, response uncertainty
• Performance: quality performance, delivery performance, flexibility performance, cost performance
• Political skill inventory (PSI): social astuteness, interpersonal influence, networking ability, apparent sincerity
• Process management: information and communication technologies implementation, service processes

Q

• Quality management practices: customer focus, employee relations, management leadership, process management, product/service design, quality data and reporting, supplier quality management, training

S

• Service climate: leadership, service culture, value orientation
• Service orientation (third-order construct): service climate, market focus, process management, human resource policy, metrics and standard

T

• Technology acceptance model (TAM): ease of use, usefulness
• Trustworthiness: ability, benevolence, integrity

Example

The following scale example can be used, if you want to add a new scale (click edit this page to add a new one).

• Example

Journals

Rankings are recommended to assess the quality of a journal. The better the quality of a journal the more likely is a good quality of a scale published in it. Widely accepted rankings are the German VHB-JOURQUAL and the British ABS Academic Journal Quality Guide. In this handbook scales are used from various high-ranked management journals, e.g.

• Academy of Management Journal
• Decision Sciences
• Information Systems Research
• International Journal of Logistics Management
• International Journal of Operations & Production Management
• Journal of Business Logistics
• Journal of Management
• Journal of Marketing
• Journal of Operations Management
• Journal of Supply Chain Management
• Management Science
• Production and Operations Management

Recommended literature

• MacKenzie et al. (2011): Construct Measurement and Validation Procedures in MIS and Behavioral Research: Integrating New and Existing Techniques. MIS Quarterly, Vol. 35, No. 2, pp. 293-334.

Related handbooks

• Bearden et al. (2010): Handbook of Marketing Scales: Multi-Item Measures for Marketing and Consumer Behavior Research. Sage. ISBN 1412980186
• Keller et al. (2002): A summary and analysis of multi-item scales used in logistics research. Journal of Business Logistics, Vol. 23, No. 2, pp. 83–119.
• Roth et al. (2007): Handbook of Metrics for Research in Operations Management: Multi-item Measurement Scales and Objective Items. Sage. ISBN 1412954517

External links

• Supply Chain Management Research. Understanding complex and dynamic networks of organizations.