The Assessment of Organizational Mindfulness Processes for the Effective Assimilation of IT Innovations

Abstract

Organizations deploy information technology (IT) in an effort to improve their decision-making and action capabilities. However, few organizations are fully successful in their efforts to assimilate IT innovations. Scholars have begun to argue that collective mindfulness, or an elevated state of collective alertness toward expectations and changes in the organizational context, is a key factor in the management of IT innovations. This study proposes an instrument and method for assessing the degree to which an organization is mindful. A set of scales for assessing organizational mindfulness processes were developed, refined, and validated. These scales were then used as the basis for an Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) model that can be used by researchers and managers to facilitate awareness, assessment, and development of collective mindfulness. In addition, the assessment model was tested in a real setting to illustrate how this tool can be used in practice within an organization.