ORGANIZATIONAL-CHANGE CAPABILITY: VALIDATION OF A PRACTICE-RESEARCH MEASURE

For organizations to survive and thrive within the context of constant change, it is important they build and maintain an underlying change capability. The present article identifies 11 key dimensions of change capability that can enable organizations to thrive in the contemporary context of volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous organizational change. The 11 dimensions and the associated measurement instrument reflect the practical experience of applied-change practitioners and the experience of academics with applied-research interests in organizational change. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was first conducted on a sample of 118 Australian employees who reported they had significant experience in change management. The resulting 11-factor EFA model was then tested using more rigorous confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) methods on a sample of 913 employees from a diverse range of organizations. In support of the 11-factor model the final CFA results yielded generally good fit to the data. Using relative weights analyses, the analyses showed that capability development, visible senior-leader sponsorship of change, and frontline-supervisor support were the most salient predictors of successful implementation of change. Overall, the study provides empirical support for a new measure of organizational-change capability. By drawing from practitioner experience and from the academic literature, the study provides a promising direction for researchers and practitioners interested in further understanding, defining, assessing, supporting, and sustaining change capability as an organizational-change resource. Practical implications and future research opportunities are discussed.