Adaptation and validation of the Organizational Learning Mechanism Scale (OLMS)

Silva, Fábio Ferreira; Odelius, Catarina Cecília

doi:10.1590/0104-530X3428-19

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Sumário

Original Articles • Gest. Prod. 26 (3) • 2019 • https://doi.org/10.1590/0104-530X3428-19 copy

Adaptation and validation of the Organizational Learning Mechanism Scale (OLMS)

Adaptação e validação da Escala de Mecanismo de Aprendizagem em Organizações (EMAO)

Authorship SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

Abstract

The purpose hereof is to adapt the Organizational Learning Mechanism Scale (OLMS), which deals with organizations’ actions to create procedures and practices for knowledge acquisition, storage, sharing, and use. The adaptation of this scale was based on the validation of the scale for the Brazilian context, and on a theme-related literature review. The adapted scale was submitted for semantic and theoretical validation by judges and for the application of a pilot test in a small sample. The data of 268 public servants who work in military and civil organizations were collected through electronic means. Once the recommended prior analyses were conducted, we performed a factorial analysis, identifying 3 factors: Internal Acquisition Mechanisms (11 items and α = 0.924), Codification and Control Mechanisms (8 items and α = 0.899), and External Acquisition Mechanism (3 items and α = 0.726), which explain a total variance of 62.20%, results that were superior to those found in the first adaptation of the OLMS. The final results point to an instrument with good statistical parameters and which is responsible for a great amount of the construct’s variance, indicating new directions for the execution of new research.

Keywords:
Knowledge management; Organizational learning; Organizational human behavior

*Factor 1 – Internal and External Knowledge Acquisition (alpha* = 0.81)**
Description of the Item	Factorial Load	H²
The organization encourages its employees to participate in formal and informal external networks and groups of people.	0.69	0.61
The organization promotes partnerships with other organizations, universities, technical schools, etc.	0.63	0.69
The organization keeps itself in touch with external professionals and experts.	0.58	0.51
The organization promotes and supports innovations.	0.51	0.50
The organization offers learning opportunities, such as internal training programs, visits to other department, etc.	0.48	0.43
The organization identifies specific experts or subjects through catalogs or e-mails filed according to the themes to each of which they belong.	0.46	0.61
My team members participate in external events (conventions, fairs, symposiums, etc.).	0.45	0.38
*Factor 2 – Knowledge Sharing (alpha* = 0.87)**
Description of the Item	Factorial Load	H²
My team members have the same goal.	0.65	0.61
My team members share knowledge and experiences through dialogs with other workmates.	0.62	0.69
My team members collect, classify, and distribute internal suggestions to the other members.	0.59	0.55
Teamwork is a common practice in the organization.	0.53	0.51
New work performance ideas and approaches are daily applied in my team.	0.50	0.49
The employees are informed about the organization’s goals.	0.48	0.46
Meetings are held to inform the employees about the latest innovations in the organization.	0.47	0.49
The organization develops internal task and employee-change rotation programs between departments and positions.	0.42	0.42
The organization has formal mechanisms that ensure the sharing of better practices between different activity fields.	0.41	0.55
My team members participate in other teams or units, and work as links between them.	0.39	0.32
*Factor 3 – Knowledge Codification and Control (alpha* = 0.71)**
Description of the Item	Factorial Load	H²
The databases used by my team are updated.	0.73	0.68
The organization’s databases are consulted through several types of network (Lotus Notes, intranet, etc.).	0.61	0.59
The organization has an updated client database.	0.60	0.58
The organization has a database to store its experiences and knowledge.	0.36	0.55

Sampling suitability Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin unit		.934
Bartlett's test of sphericity	Approx. Chi-square	4102.587
	DF^a a Degrees of Freedom (DF) is the number of independent determinations (sample size) minus the number of statistical parameters to be evaluated in the population;	276
	Sig.^b b Sig. less than 0.05 shows us that the correlation matrix is not an identity matrix, and therefore there are some relationships between the variables expected to be included in the analysis. Table shows the scale factorability through the KMO, chi-square, degree of freedom (Df) and significance. Adapted from “Análise multivariada de dados”, by Hair et al. (2010). Source: Research data.	0.000

Factor	Initial proper values			Rotational sums of square loads
Factor	Eigenvalue	% of variance	Cumulative %	Total
1	10.627	44.280	44.280	10.627
2	2.395	9.978	54.258	2.395
3	1.558	6.492	60.750	1.558
4	1.253	5.220	65.870	1.253

Internal Acquisition Mechanisms
Set of actions taken by the organization that favors social interaction between individuals in the work environment, so the knowledge and experiences are shared between the members of the internal organizational context.
Item	Description	Factorial Load	Quality	H²
10	The organization encourages its members to share suggestions in the work environment.	0.907	Excellent	0.692
11	The organization encourages teamwork.	0.824	Excellent	0.674
4	The organization encourages its members to propose new ideas regarding work subjects.	0.814	Excellent	0.608
12	The organization encourages new ideas and approaches on work performance to be applied daily.	0.803	Excellent	0.639
16	The organization informs its members about the responsibilities of other workmates and departments.	0.757	Excellent	0.643
9	The organization creates informal environments in which people can share knowledge and experiences with workmates.	0.704	Very Good	0.502
13	The organization holds meetings to inform its members about innovations in its activities.	0.684	Very Good	0.544
14	The organization exchanges professionals between departments and positions, enabling people to participate in other teams.	0.612	Good	0.627
6	The organization identifies people in the organization itself with expertise in specific subjects through catalogs or any other means of registration.	0.566	Good	0.536
15	The organization encourages task rotations between its employees.	0.560	Good	0.679
17	The organization encourages the sharing of work practices between its several sectors through formal mechanisms (e.g., scheduled meetings, space in internal network for procedure registration, etc.).	0.461	Average	0.607
Trustworthiness - Cronbach’s Alpha			0.924
Eigenvalue			9.967
Total Variance			45.305

Codification and Control Mechanisms
Set of actions taken by the organization that favors the storage, localization, access, and use of the databases and experiences of the subjects for the organization’s activities.
Item	Description	Factorial Load	Quality	H²
22	The organization employs methods to locate knowledge stored in the databases.	0.968	Excellent	0.746
23	The organization employs methods to update the available databases.	0.957	Excellent	0.739
21	The organization defines policies for the storage of information and knowledge in databases of some kind of internal network (e.g., intranet and physical repository of documents).	0.858	Excellent	0.657
18	The organization makes a database available to recover knowledge on developed activities and processes.	0.723	Excellent	0.700
19	The organization establishes in which databases (physical or virtual) the subjects’ specific pieces of knowledge should be materialized.	0.652	Very Good	0.677
20	The organization has a database about other organizations with which it interacts.	0.640	Very Good	0.465
24	The organization encourages lessons learned from the results of organizational projects to be documented as a result of important success or due to failures.	0.533	Average	0.591
8	The organization allows its internal public to consult the databases or repository of documents through some kind of internal network (e.g., intranet).	0.457	Average	0.394
Trustworthiness - Cronbach’s Alpha			0.899
Eigenvalue			2.255
Total Variance			10.249

External Acquisition Mechanisms
Set of actions taken by the organization that favors the subjects’ interaction with the subjects and/or people groups of other organizations whose activities are similar or contribute to the organization that promotes such actions.
Item	Description	Factorial Load	Quality	H²
2	The organization promotes partnerships with other organizations, such as universities, private companies, and NGOs.	0.882	Excellent	0.458
3	The organization keeps itself in touch with external professionals and experts.	0.622	Good	0.400
7	The organization provides means for its employees to participate in external events (e.g., conventions, fairs, and symposia).	0.415	Average	0.491
Trustworthiness - Cronbach’s Alpha			0.726
Eigenvalue			1.463
Total Variance			6.649

Factor	1	2	3
1	1.000	.631	.462
2	.631	1.000	.312
3	.462	.312	1.000

Universidade Federal de São Carlos Departamento de Engenharia de Produção , Caixa Postal 676 , 13.565-905 São Carlos SP Brazil, Tel.: +55 16 3351 8471 - São Carlos - SP - Brazil
E-mail: gp@dep.ufscar.br

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[1] Table shows the factorial load and H² (commonality), which represents the amount of variance explained by the factor solution for each variable. Adapted from “Análise multivariada de dados”, by Hair et al. (2010)Hair, J. F., Black, W. C., Babin, B. J., Anderson, R. E., & Tatham, R. L. (2010). Análise multivariada de dados (7. ed.). Porto Alegre: Bookman.. Source: Isidro-Filho (2009)Isidro-Filho, A. I. (2009). Mecanismos de aprendizagem em organizações: desenvolvimento e validação de uma escala de medida. Revista de Administração Mackenzie, 10(1), 37-57. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S1678-69712009000100003.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S1678-69712009... .