The meaning and measurement of implementation climate.
Abstract
BACKGROUND:
Climate has a long history in organizational studies,
but few theoretical models integrate the complex effects of climate during
innovation implementation. In 1996, a theoretical model was proposed
that organizations could develop a positive climate for implementation
by making use of various policies and practices that promote organizational
members' means, motives, and opportunities for innovation use. The model
proposes that implementation climate--or the extent to which
organizational members perceive that innovation use is expected, supported, and
rewarded--is positively associated with implementation effectiveness.
The implementation climate construct holds significant promise for
advancing scientific knowledge about the organizational determinants of
innovation implementation. However, the construct has not received
sufficient scholarly attention, despite numerous citations in the scientific
literature. In this article, we clarify the meaning of implementation
climate, discuss several measurement issues, and propose guidelines for
empirical study.
DISCUSSION:
Implementation climate differs from constructs like organizational climate, culture,
or context in two important respects: first, it has a strategic focus (implementation),
and second, it is innovation-specific. Measuring implementation climate
is challenging because the construct operates at the organizational-level, but
requires the collection of multi-dimensional perceptual data from many expected
innovation users within an organization. In order to avoid problems with
construct validity, assessments of within-group agreement of implementation
climate measures must be carefully considered. Implementation climate
implies a high degree of within-group agreement in climate perceptions.
However, researchers might find it useful to distinguish implementation
climate level (the average of implementation climate perceptions) from implementation
climate strength (the variability of implementation climate
perceptions). It is important to recognize that the implementation
climate construct applies most readily to innovations that require collective,
coordinated behavior change by many organizational members both for successful implementation
and for realization of anticipated benefits. For innovations that do not
possess these attributes, individual level theories of behavior change could be
more useful in explaining implementation effectiveness.
SUMMARY:
This construct has considerable value in implementation
science, however, further debate and development is necessary to refine and
distinguish the construct for empirical use.
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