Measuring Emergent Organizational Properties

Abstract

This article presents a theoretical rationale and empirical evidence regarding the validity of scores obtained from two competing approaches to operationalizing scale items to measure emergent organizational properties. The authors consider whether items in scales intended to measure organizational properties should prompt survey takers to provide self- or group-referent responses. To achieve this, the general question of how items should be worded is studied through the specific case of the measurement of perceived collective efficacy, a perceptual variable referring to the beliefs of group members regarding their conjoint capability. Structural equation modeling results indicate that intergroup variability in goal attainment is explained well when organizational members are asked questions focused on group processes and outcomes. Aggregated perceptions of self-capability, on the other hand, do little to explain variability among groups in goal attainment. The results are important for the development of scales in future studies of emergent organizational properties.

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