Measuring the learning capacity of organisations: development and factor analysis of the Questionnaire for Learning Organizations.

AIMS To investigate internal consistency and factor structure of a questionnaire measuring learning capacity based on Senge's theory of the five disciplines of a learning organisation: Personal Mastery, Mental Models, Shared Vision, Team Learning, and Systems Thinking. DESIGN Cross-sectional study. SETTING Substance-abuse treatment centres (SATCs) in The Netherlands. PARTICIPANTS A total of 293 SATC employees from outpatient and inpatient treatment departments, financial and human resources departments. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Psychometric properties of the Questionnaire for Learning Organizations (QLO), including factor structure, internal consistency, and interscale correlations. FINDINGS A five-factor model representing the five disciplines of Senge showed good fit. The scales for Personal Mastery, Shared Vision and Team Learning had good internal consistency, but the scales for Systems Thinking and Mental Models had low internal consistency. CONCLUSIONS The proposed five-factor structure was confirmed in the QLO, which makes it a promising instrument to assess learning capacity in teams. The Systems Thinking and the Mental Models scales have to be revised. Future research should be aimed at testing criterion and discriminatory validity.