A Cognitive Organization Theory (COT) of organizational change: measuring organizational texture, audience appeal, and leadership engagement

Abstract

Purpose We focus on an application of COT: internal processes of organizational change. In re-conceptualizing and extending part of COT to fine-tune the theoretical logic to the case of internal processes of organizational change - defining appeal and engagement. We suggest a series of measures to proxy for the theory’s key theoretical constructs, and run psychometric analyses with data from two pilot studies. Design/methodology/approach Developing reliable and valid survey measures of COT’s key constructs - using 3 steps (e.g., Hinkin, 1998; Ferris et al., 2008). 1. use of scale items via OB proxy constructs, and (b) self-developed potential items/scales. 2. factor analysis, assessed with Cronbach’s alpha. 3. estimate a structural equation model (SEM). We collected tailor-made survey data from police forces in Belgium and the UK. Findings We re-conceptualized COT in combining micro OB with macro OT reasoning, applied to internal processes of organizational change at the individual level. We developed a number of survey-based measures to proxy COT’s key theoretical constructs, and estimate a COT-inspired SEM with police forces data from Belgium and the UK. Asperity and opacity are of relatively greater importance than intricacy or viscosity for change. We provide evidence as to the criterion-related validity of our measures of COT constructs 22/39 coefficients of COT-inspired independent and control variables are significant. Research limitations/implications Our contribution is a first step, requiring further theoretical and methodological refinement. First, we may explore differences across types of internal audience members (e.g., according to gender and rank), and introduce interaction variables (e.g., with identity). Second, we might conduct the survey in other police forces and other public organizations. Third, for replication, we could improve the measurement instrument by adding extra scales and items, and collecting further data (e.g., objective HRM and performance data). Fourth, provided that the number of observations is high, we can test COT-inspired hypotheses at the aggregate level of (units within) organizations. Originality/value We develop survey measures for each of the central theoretical constructs of the COT of organizational change. The core of this paper involves a scale development endeavor. We contribute to the relatively limited organization ecology theory in Management (e.g., Isett et al., 2013), taking mathematical modeling and the three-step procedure as our workhorses (e.g., Hinkin, 1998; Ferris et al., 2008), offering the first formal modeling and scale development of cognitive organization theory (Hannan et al., 2007).