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community, but also for related fields as it might be able to explain how changes in
needs change attitudes and preferences. Human needs have always played a key role
in organisational development, and the proposed study is an attempt to “humanise”
organisational methodologies [2], that is, to enable organisations to be more respon-
sive to human concerns when developing and implementing new methodologies.
Furthermore, by creating a theoretically and practically relevant and parsimonious
taxonomy of attributes of methodologies, we present researchers as well as practitio-
ners with a framework to help identify and understand the characteristics that their
methodologies possess or should possess.
Our research also has significant implications for practitioners. Each of the pro-
posed constructs reveals a different aspect of human behaviour and personality, and
each can serve as a point of attack for organisations in their attempts to steer them in
the desired direction [1] by means of tailor-made methodologies. Our findings could
help organisations manage the selection, development, and implementation of new
methodologies. We would like to propose that future research study the determinants
of the constructs identified in this study as well as the interrelationships between
them. For example, we still know very little about how an organisation perceives the
needs of their employees, since misinterpretation might lead to misleading conclu-
sions. Another very promising focus area is how culture influences the importance
assigned by individuals to the specific attributes. Although the understanding of cul-
tural influences is repeatedly emphasised by top journal editors (e.g., Straub [43]),
this is seldom incorporated in research generally, because of the difficulty of data
collection. If it is successful in collecting data that is sufficient for statistical analysis
from a wide range of
different types
of cultures (categorised by Hofstede [24]), our
study - as proposed - will further improve the generalisability of our findings as well
as seek to reveal new avenues for future research. A better understanding of these
determinants would enable us to design organisational interventions that would in-
crease new methodology usage in order to improve productivity and quality as well as
to reduce effort.
5 Future Research
The next steps in our research include developing a survey instrument to test the pre-
sented conceptual model. Regarding the operationalization of the proposed constructs,
there might be a possibility that prior instruments may not be suitable to establish
appropriate levels of construct validity in the context of our study; new scales might
therefore need to be developed. In developing the initial set of items, we will follow
the advice of Straub [44] and employ a rigorous step-by-step iterative process as well
as utilise the existing literature (see Table 2 for an overview of the prior operationali-
sation of constructs). After obtaining the initial battery of items, two researchers will
conduct expert interviews with six subject matter experts (three academics and three
practitioners) to obtain specific information as to whether the initial items are com-
prehensible, valid, and complete [44]. To further improve content and construct valid-
ity, we will then conduct a Q-sorting and item ranking in two rounds. In the final step,
we will subject the questionnaire to a pre-test based on a convenience sample with
individuals representing the target population. The final survey instrument will be
