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Abstract
The purpose of the present study was to examine the psychometric properties of scores from human resource development (HRD) climate survey instrument by Rao and Abraham (1986). Data were obtained from 403 Indian business executives working in both public and private sector business organizations. Six interpretable factors were extracted as a result of exploratory factor analysis instead of three dimensional structure proposed by the authors of the scale. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) results provided support for the superiority of six factor model over alternative models. All the six factors were found to be internally consistent. Results indicated that Rao and Abraham's scale with sound psychometric properties showed promise for HRD research. Establishing the psychometric properties of the instrument will further accelerate the HRD research in India. Importantly, the study has made an attempt to address the lack of research and practice on organizational climate, which is a matter of concern as expressed by several researchers, and revive the interest in climate studies to some extent.
Key Words
HRD Climate, Reliability, Validity, Exploratory Factor Analysis, Confirmatory Factor Analysis
Introduction
In the present business environment characterized by uncertainty and fierce competition, organizations are con- tinuously looking for ways to improve their performance. Looking at the intricacies which continue to creep into every aspect of business, the time-honoured four Ps of marketing have lost insignificance and fifth P, that is, people, has gained increased significance. It is the people and their performance which defines an organization's competitive advantage (Colan, 2009). The ideas for inno- vation, quality and continuous improvement as well as other critically important inputs needed to compete in the modern, highly competitive business world, come from people and not from machines. In fact, in the new economy human capital is the foundation of value creation (Becker et al., 2001). The need for human resource development (HRD) has never been as imperative as it is today because an organization's capability to a large extent depends upon the capability of its human resource which is the conse- quence of HRD. Consequently, in order to have an edge over its competitors, firms should invest considerably in the development of its major value adding asset, that is, human resource. In order to keep up with the changing...