Self-determination and feedback: Their identification within the organization context
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to operationalize and attempt to identify self-determination and feedback dimensions in a business organization. Employees of a company in the information systems industry served as the subject population. The business provides systems and data base management support to customers across a wide spectrum of industries that include retail and banking. The subject employee group is composed of 1,623 salaried nonrepresented employees who are employed across a broad range of occupational classifications. The business's Employee Practices Survey was used as the study's data collection tool. The survey is an instrument that has been used by the organization's parent company for over 15 years. The questionnaire is made up of 58 questions configured in a Likert-type scale. Key issues addressed in the survey include customer relations, compensation, employee-management relationships, and communications. An examination of the Employee Practices Survey was made to determine if the questionnaire could be used to operationalize self-determination and feedback dimensions. Six questions were identified that related directly to self-determination and four questions were identified that related directly to feedback. Having noted the questions that would comprise the self-determination and feedback dimensions, employee responses to those questions were analyzed and found to be highly reliable. Coefficient alpha for the self-determination variables at.80 indicated that the correlation of these responses with true scores was.89. Coefficient alpha for the feedback variables at.85 indicated that the correlation of these responses with true scores was.92. Evaluation of two confirmatory factor analysis models provided strong support for the study's hypothesis. Using Nunnally's (1978) criteria for the identification of interpretable factors (i.e., at least four variables with loadings above.50), LAMBDA matrices identified robust self-determination and feedback dimensions. A series of goodness-of-fit measures reflected superb fit. In the first model the Goodness-of-Fit Index at.962 and the Adjusted Goodness-of-Fit Index at.938 both approach unity. In the second model the Goodness-of-Fit Index at.912 and the Adjusted Goodness-of-Fit Index at.861 both identified excellent fit. Given the size of the study's population, chi-square was not a valid fit indicator and therefore chi-square was not used in the models' evaluation. Joreskog (1977) and Gorsuch (1983) argue that chi-square is most sensitive to sample size with large sample sizes tending to increase chi-square over and above what can be expected due to specification error in the model.
Subject Area
Occupational psychology
Recommended Citation
Gilbert, Daniel Francis, "Self-determination and feedback: Their identification within the organization context" (1996). ETD Collection for Fordham University. AAI9631035.
https://research.library.fordham.edu/dissertations/AAI9631035
