Construct Measurement in Management Research: The Importance of Match Between Levels of Theory and Measurement

Far too often do management scholars resort to crude and often inappropriate measures of fundamental constructs in their research; an approach which calls in question the interpretation and validity of their findings. Scholars often legitimize poor choices in measurement with a lack of availability of better measures and/or that they are simply following existing research in adopting previously published measures without critically assessing the validity, appropriateness, and applicability of such measures in terms of the focal study. Motivated by a recent dialog in Journal of Business Research, this research note raises important questions about the use of proxies in management research and argues for greater care in operationalizing constructs with particular attention to matching levels of theory and measurement.