Smart maintenance: instrument development, content validation and an empirical pilot
International Journal of Operations & Production Management
ISSN: 0144-3577
Article publication date: 6 May 2020
Issue publication date: 19 June 2020
Abstract
Purpose
Scholars and practitioners within industrial maintenance management are focused on understanding antecedents, correlates and consequences of the concept of “Smart Maintenance,” which consists of the four dimensions, namely, data-driven decision-making, human capital resource, internal integration and external integration. In order to facilitate this understanding, valid and reliable empirical measures need to be developed. Therefore, this paper aims to develop a psychometric instrument that measures the four dimensions of Smart Maintenance.
Design/methodology/approach
The results from two sequential empirical studies are presented, which include generating items to represent the constructs, assessment of content validity, as well as an empirical pilot test. With input from 50 industrial experts, a pool of 80 items that represent the constructs are generated. Thereafter, using data from 42 industrial and academic raters, the content validity of all items is assessed quantitatively. Finally, using data from 59 manufacturing plants, the dimensionality and factor structure of the instrument are tested.
Findings
The authors demonstrate content validity and provide evidence of good model fit and psychometric properties for one-factor models with 8–11 items for each of the four constructs, as well as a combined 24-item four-factor model.
Originality/value
The authors provide recommendations for scholarly use of the instrument in further theory-testing research, as well as its practical use to assess, benchmark and longitudinally evaluate Smart Maintenance within the manufacturing industry.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This study involved extensive collaboration with practitioners. The authors direct our gratitude toward all the working professionals who devoted their time and interest to this study, thereby playing a pivotal role in the development and validation of the measurement instrument presented in this paper. This work was supported by VINNOVA, Swedish Agency for Innovation Systems [grant number 2017–01652]. This work has been performed within the Sustainable Production Initiative and the Production Area of Advance at Chalmers. The support is greatly appreciated.
Citation
Bokrantz, J., Skoogh, A., Berlin, C. and Stahre, J. (2020), "Smart maintenance: instrument development, content validation and an empirical pilot", International Journal of Operations & Production Management, Vol. 40 No. 4, pp. 481-506. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJOPM-11-2019-0746
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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