Evaluation of Psychometric Properties of a New Research Instrument for Measuring Collective Impact Based Cross-Sectoral Collaboration and Leadership: Oulu Collective Impact Study

Abstract

Cross-sectoral collaboration is a widely used strategy in social and healthcare services. The main purpose of this way of working is to bring together organizations and their expertise to solve defined problems. A collective impact (CI)-based model is one of the promising approaches to create prerequisites for functional collaboration between different sectors. The CI-based cross-sectoral collaboration model has been implemented in the City of Oulu since the year 2019. During the implementation processes as well as underlined in the literature, the role of effective leadership has been highlighted as an essential prerequisite for the successful realization of CI-related work. Furthermore, the need for a research instrument to measure the realization of cross-sectoral collaboration including different CI-based domains and the effectiveness of leadership has been emphasized. The aim of this study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of a new research instrument developed for this purpose, named the Oulu cross-sectoral Collaboration and Leadership (OCL) scale. The OCL scale is based on the CI approach, with leadership as an additional domain. The psychometric properties of the OCL scale were evaluated for validity and reliability. Two-factor analyses with varimax rotation were performed to verify that the items included in each domain formed a homogeneous entity. The number of respondents in the online survey was 254, covering 37% of the target group of professionals. The Cronbach’s alpha of the seven domains ranged from 0.875 to 0.929, reflecting good to excellent internal consistency. The results of the factor analyses showed that the items in all the domains of this research instrument work together as a group in an appropriate manner, measuring the same object. Suggestions for further development of the instrument are also presented. The OCL scale proved to be a promising tool for research purposes and for assessing collaborative development work of public services. This also gives an opportunity to measure changes in cross-sectoral collaboration during the CI-based implementation process.