TOWARDS THE INTEGRATED CONCEPT AND MEASUREMENT OF ORGANIZATIONAL POSITIVITY

Abstract

Purpose: Despite the dynamic growth of Positive Organizational Scholarship (POS) there have been very few attempts to discover a structure of positive phenomena at organizational level and, taking a step further, conceptualize and operationalize organizational positivity. The paper attempts to fill that gap by proposing a coherent concept of positive orientation along with its measure.Methodology/approach: To achieve the purpose the philosophy of creating and using orientations at organizational level has been reviewed, the underlying structure of organizational alignment has been selected and positive phenomena have been conceptually attributed to five dimensions of positive orientation: leadership, culture, strategy, design and human capital. The conceptually created framework has been empirically tested using factor analysis and reliability analysis.Findings: The research results confirm that positive orientation is a multi-dimensional construct with five dimensions: positive leadership, positive culture, positive strategy, positive design and positive human capital.Implications/limitations: The paper has main implications for further research. The concept of positive orientation can be used as a useful tool not only for measuring organizational positivity, but also for researching its antecedents and consequences.Originality/value: The concept of positive orientation is one of the very few integrated concepts of positivity at organizational level. It is fully original and has been conceptualized and operationalized using commonly accepted methods of construct development. (original abstract)