Measuring Complexity: A Confirmatory Factor Analysis Approach

• Date: 01 November 2017
• Published date: 01 November 2017
• DOI: 10.1177/1043986217724531
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/1043986217724531

Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice

2017, Vol. 33(4) 380 –391

© The Author(s) 2017

Reprints and permissions:

sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav

DOI: 10.1177/1043986217724531

journals.sagepub.com/home/ccj

Article

Measuring Complexity:

A Confirmatory Factor

Analysis Approach

John C. Reed Jr.1 and George E. Higgins1

Abstract

This study examines complexity as a measure of support for organizational redirection.

This study considers whether 16 items (culture, mission, values, decentralization, policies

and procedures, administrative reporting practices, weapons, contract, pay, benefits,

patrol boundaries, equalization of workload, size of boundaries, communications,

10-codes, and car numbers) appropriately characterized a suppressed measure of

complexity related to complex organizational change, a police department merger.

The current study utilizes data collected from 390 sworn officers from two merged

law enforcement agencies in Kentucky. The results of the structural equation model

analysis supported the view that four factors (mission, logistics, benefits, and policy)

fashion an underlying construct for measuring complexity related to organizational

change/redirection. The implications of these findings are also considered.

Keywords

complexity, factor analysis, organizational change, organizational redirection, police

consolidation, merger

Introduction

Change and the characteristic complexity that accompanies much of it exists in all

organizations, especially during large-scale events such as a government merger. The

research on organizational change is plentiful, generating a mass of insights. However,

to date, the research on complexity related to organizational change, and support for

the redirection, is less abundant. Academics and practitioners are increasingly seeing

complexity theories as a way of understanding organizations and promoting change

1University of Louisville, KY, USA

Corresponding Author:

John C. Reed Jr., Southern Police Institute, McCandless Hall, University of Louisville, Louisville,

KY 40292, USA.

Email: jcreed01@louisville.edu

724531CCJXXX10.1177/1043986217724531Journal of Contemporary Criminal JusticeReed and Higgins

research-article2017