Organizational learning: Proposal of an integrative scale and research instrument

This study describes the development and validation of an instrument to measure organizational learning. Starting out from a comprehensive analysis of the main organizational learning models in the specialized literature, the organizational learning scale in this study consists of 18 items forming five dimensions: the ontological levels of learning, modes of knowledge conversion, learning sub-processes, types of learning, and feedback and feed-forward flows of learning. A survey to large Spanish companies provides data from 167 companies. Confirmatory factor analysis tests the construct measurement model and validates the scale. The results of the study indicate that the scale satisfies the criteria for reliability, and validity. The exploratory factor analysis permits the identification of four factors which make theoretical sense: information systems, the existence of a framework for consensus, procedures for the institutionalization and broadening of knowledge, and forms of management and the genesis of knowledge. The new construct promises to be more comprehensive, integrative and eclectic than previous constructs, achieving its broad scope by incorporating a number of the main theoretical perspectives on the matter. For practitioners, the scale could form the basis of an auditing tool, as well as being a useful target for organizational change initiatives.