Do Schools Fail to “Walk Their Talk”? Development and Validation of a Scale Measuring Organizational Hypocrisy

ABSTRACT

Educational organizations in institutionalized environments may try to reflect a legitimate image of the environment in their internal structure. However, there may be loosely coupled relationship between anticipated legitimacy and the performed actions in the schools. Thus, that lack of congruence between rhetoric and the behaviors constitutes organizational hypocrisy in schools. The purpose of this article is to advance conceptual understanding of organizational hypocrisy in educational organizations and develop an empirical scale of organizational hypocrisy (OHS). Data from 503 teachers were collected from conducted interrelated studies. The studies that have been conducted to develop OHS validated the scale and demonstrated its utility in relation to organizational behaviors. Results suggested a 17 item, three-factor solution: (1) Keeping Words Into Practice, (2) Compliance Between Internal Structure and the Environment, and (3) Inconsistency in Practices. The OHS showed adequate internal consistency, was negatively related to organizational trust, and indicated predictive validity in association with organizational cynicism in schools. The article concludes with study limitations, practical implications, and future research directions.

Notes

^1. One of the experts consulted to determine content validity of organizational hypocrisy was Nils Brunsson, a scholar with considerable work on the topic.