Abstract
TRG Steering Committee members Bethany Cockburn and Sarah Wittman present: Toward Capturing the Role Transition Experience: Scale Development and Validation.
Date : Apr 13, 2023 11:00 AM — 12:30 PM
Event : TRG April Lightning Talk
Lightning Talk
Toward capturing the role transition experience: Scale development and validation
by Bethany Cockburn & Sarah Wittman
Abstract: Macro-role transitions—psychological, physical, relational, and/or behavioral movements between sequentially-held social roles—are increasingly ubiquitous in organizational life. Ashforth (2001) and Ebaugh (1988) made great strides in demarcating transitions as distinct and tractable social processes. However, the largely arbitrary assignation of transition attributes (e.g., voluntariness), and the lack of objective, testable measurement of transition-relevant constructs has begotten a fragmented field where transitions within or across individuals are impossible to reliably compare, and research is difficult to replicate. In this study, we draw on the recent field-definition efforts of George, Wittman, and Rockmann (2022) to develop and validate a measure that captures the psychological, physical, relational, and behavioral movements that role transitions entail: the multidimensional Role Transitions Scale (RTS). We used subject-matter experts to assess the measure’s content validity, and then employed five samples (total N = 1,373) to examine the psychometric properties (factor structure, reliability, and convergent and discriminate validity) and the nomological network of a 18-item scale that includes subscales capturing psychological, physical (space and body), relational, and behavioral transitional movements. Overall, our results provide evidence of the reliability and psychometric soundness of the RTS for capturing the multi-dimensional experience of role transitions in organizations. We discuss the implications of the RTS for the study of role transitions, and suggest possible future directions for research using this new measure.