WorkforceAgility:ParsingOutParsimony
JackMillerAshleyNjakaKevinNolanTerriShapiro HofstraUniversityHofstraUniversityHofstraUniversityHofstraUniversity
Introduction
AccordingtoMuduliandPandya(2018),agilityisa proactiveapproachtochangesthatstemsfroma preparationmindsetthatispreparedtochangein anygivennotice.Unfortunately,therehasyettobe consensusamongresearchersastowhatfactors buildintoworkforceagilityattheindividuallevel. Themostestablishedmeasure,Alavietal (2014)proposesa3-factormodeltoassess workforceagilityhasbeencriticizedforitslackof breadth(PetermannandZachermann,2021). Recently,PetermannandZacher(2021)proposea newten-factormodelnotingtheambiguity surroundingworkforceagilityattheindividuallevel. Wecomparedthreemeasuresofworkforceagilityin ordertodetermineifonebestmeasuresworkforce agility.WecomparedanadaptedAlavietal’s(2014) workforceagilitymeasure,asix-factormodel workforceagilitymeasure,andPetermannand Zacher(2022)’snewlydevelopedmeasureof workforceagility
ResearchQuestion1:Isamodelutilizingthe additionoffactorsteamwork,self-efficacy,anduse ofinquirycomparabletothethevarianceof workforceagilityshowninAlavi’s(2014)model?
ResearchQuestion2:Isasix-factormodelof workforceagilitycomparabletothePetermannand Zacher(2022)model?
ResearchQuestion3:Isanadaptedversionof Alavi’s(2014)modelcomparabletotheapproach PetermannandZacher(2022)model?
Methods
RecruitingparticipantsviaMturkandsnowballing techniques,wesurveyed223and149participantsin studies1and2respectivelyusingvalidatedscales onresearchedareasofworkforceagility(proactivity, adaptivity,resilience,teamwork,psychological empowerment,useofinquiry,informationsharing, problem-solving,etc)
Discussion
FindingssuggestthatAlavietal.’s(2014)Workforce AgilityScalebetterexplainsworkforceagilitywithoutthe additionalfactorsofteamwork,self-efficacy,anduseof inquiry.BasedonresultsfromStudy1,itemswere removedfromallindividualscalesusedtomakeasixfactormodelworkforceagilitymeasure.InStudy2, researcherswereinterestedinexaminingdifferentscales ofworkforceagility:1)six-factormodelworkforceagility measure,2)adjustedAlavietal.(2014)workforceagility scale,and3)PetermannandZacher’s(2022)Workforce AgilityScale.ResultsfromStudy2revealedthesixfactormodelworkforceagilitymeasureshowedtobea bettermeasureofworkforceagilitythanPetermannand Zacher’sworkforceagilityscale.Alavietal.’s(2014) adjustedworkforceagilitymeasureexplainedworkforce agilitymoreparsimoniouslythanoursix-factorworkforce agilitymeasureandPetermannandZacher’smeasure, makingitthebestofthethreemeasures.
