4.5.2 Item development

Positive and negative statements regarding Belief in the Importance of Teamwork and Collective Orientation were identified and extracted from the research on team attitude measurement (Eby and Dobbins, 1997; Gregorich et al., 1990). Some of these statements were rephrased because they were extracted from a measure designed to assess pilot attitudes toward teamwork in the cockpit. In addition, several new statements were prepared to ensure that a sufficient number of statements were included for reliable measures. In total, 16 statements were developed to measure Belief in the Importance of Teamwork and 15 statements were developed to measure Collective Orientation. Consistent with other approaches, all statements were scaled using a five-point Likert-type scale where 1 = strongly disagree and 5 = strongly agree.

Attitude measures were tested on 192 business students from a mid-western university. Of the cases in which complete demographic data were available, 173 were undergraduate students, 2 were graduate students, and 1 was a professor. The mean age of participants was 22 years old; 74 were female and 108 were male; 73.4% were Caucasian, 12% were Asian or Pacific Islander, 5.2% were African-American and 1% were Hispanic. Most participants (93.8%) also indicated that they had some experience working or participating in a team.

A principal components factor analysis, item-subscale correlations, and a qualitative review of the clarity and potential for cultural bias associated with each item were used to select final items for the two attitude scales. This process resulted in eight items being selected to measure Belief in the Importance of Teamwork (µ = .79) and seven items being selected to measure Collective Orientation (µ = .84). Appendix 1.4 contains the final items for the Team Attitude Scale.

4.5.3 Scoring

The Belief in the Importance of Teamwork Scale and the Collective Orientation Scale will be scored in the same fashion. Total scores will be calculated by summing the points associated with the response alternatives selected by each respondent. Negative statements will be reverse-coded. Scores on the Belief in the Importance of Teamwork Scale can range from a low of 5 to a high of 40, whereas scores on the Collective Orientation Scale can range from a low of 5 to a high of 35. Norms will be developed on the basis of these scale scores, thereby providing information regarding attitudes toward teamwork for countries participating in ALL.