Reports Summarize Risk Management Study Results from University of Valencia (Spanish validation of the mindful organizing scale: A questionnaire for the assessment of collective mindfulness)

2019 NOV 27 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- Investigators publish new report on Risk Management. According to news reporting originating in Valencia, Spain, by NewsRx journalists, research stated, “Mindful organizing (also known as collective mindfulness) is a team level construct that is said to underpin the principles of high-reliability organizations (HROs), as it has shown to lead to almost error-free performance. While mindful organizing research has proliferated in recent years, studies on how to measure mindful organizing are scarce.”

Financial support for this research came from Generalitat Valenciana.

The news reporters obtained a quote from the research from the University of Valencia, “Vogus and Sutcliffe (2007) originally validated a nine-item ‘Mindful Organizing Scale’ but few subsequent validation studies of this scale exist. The present study aimed to validate a Spanish version of the Mindful Organizing Scale. The sample included 47 teams (comprising of a total of 573 workers with an average team size of 12.19) from a Spanish nuclear power plant. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), reliability analysis, and an analysis of aggregation indices were carried out. A correlation analysis and CFA were used to further validate the scale in terms of its distinctiveness from, and relationship with, other team-related variables such as safety culture, team safety climate, and team learning. Finally, evidence of criterion-related validity was collected by testing the incremental validity of the mindful organizing scale in the association with various workplace safety outcomes (safety compliance and safety participation). The results confirmed a unidimensional structure of the scale and indicated satisfactory internal consistency. Aggregation of the scores to the team level was justified while significant positive correlations between mindful organizing and other team-related variables (safety culture, team safety climate, team learning) were found. Moreover, mindful organizing showed distinctiveness from safety culture, team safety climate and team learning. Finally, incremental validity of the scale was supported, as it shows to be associated with safety compliance and safety participation above and beyond other related constructs. The Spanish version of the Mindful Organizing Scale has shown to be a valid and reliable scale that can be used to measure mindful organizing. The validation of the unidimensional Spanish version of Vogus and Sutcliffe’s (2007) Mindful Organizing Scale provides researchers and practitioners with a reliable and valid tool to use in Spanish speaking organizations to measure mindful organizing, which has been shown to result in more reliable performance. Theoretically, this study offers four contributions. Firstly, it validates a scale that operationalizes the ‘mindful organizing’ construct in a traditional high-reliability organization (nuclear power plant) which has never been done before. Secondly, it offers evidence that a mindful organizing scale can be validated in a new cultural context and language (Spanish) to any of the previous studies done before it. Thirdly, it adds to our understanding of mindful organizing’s nomological network by distinguishing it from other team and safety-related variables.”

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “Lastly, it builds on current research showing sound psychometric properties of a one-dimensional, quantitative measure of mindful organizing.”

For more information on this research see: Spanish validation of the mindful organizing scale: A questionnaire for the assessment of collective mindfulness. Accident Analysis & Prevention, 2019;134():105351. Accident Analysis & Prevention can be contacted at: Pergamon-Elsevier Science LTD, the Boulevard, Langford Lane, Kidlington, Oxford OX5 1GB, England. (Elsevier - www.elsevier.com; Accident Analysis & Prevention - http://www.journals.elsevier.com/accident-analysis-and-prevention/)

Our news correspondents report that additional information may be obtained by contacting I. Tomas, Research Institute on Personnel Psychology, Organizational Development and Quality of Working Life (IDOCAL), University of Valencia, Av Blasco Ibanez, 21, 46010 Valencia, Spain. Additional authors for this research include I. Tomas, F.J. Gracia and J.M Peiro.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aap.2019.105351. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

The publisher of the journal Accident Analysis & Prevention can be contacted at: Pergamon-Elsevier Science LTD, the Boulevard, Langford Lane, Kidlington, Oxford OX5 1GB, England.

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