A1.2
Tracks
Stream A
| Thursday, October 29, 2026 |
| 2:00 PM - 2:15 PM |
Overview
An Alpha, Beta and Gamma Approach to Interpreting Change Related to a Work Design Intervention | 15 mins
Presenter
Dr Cheryl Yam
The University Of Western Australia
An Alpha, Beta and Gamma Approach to Interpreting Change Related to a Work Design Intervention
2:15 PM - 2:30 PMAbstract
We first present the results of a work design intervention conducted in seven organizations within the Healthcare and Social Assistance industry in Australia. Despite positive qualitative feedback from intervention participants, the absolute differences across the mean scale scores on relevant work design variables post intervention were not as expected.
Drawing on the alpha, beta, gamma approach, a typology of change developed to investigate organizational interventions, we suggest that change as a result of the work design intervention may occur through three mechanisms. First, change between pre-intervention and post-intervention might occur as an absolute difference in scale scores of work design constructs (i.e., alpha change). Second, change might manifest as a recalibration of respondents’ scales for assessing work design as a result of the interventions (i.e., beta change). Finally, change might emerge as a reconceptualization of the meaning attached to work design itself as a result of the interventions (i.e., gamma change). Interventions designed to change organizations more systemically, such as work design interventions, seem to inherently address the way that people define what the constructs mean to them (e.g., Riordan et al., 2001) – that is, participants in such interventions exhibit beta or gamma change.
Investigating absolute change in constructs through comparing scale scores across time points (e.g., pre-intervention and post-intervention) do not assess beta and gamma change. However, these alternative change mechanisms can be assessed through other means, such as using principles of measurement invariance testing. In this study, we propose applying the process for equivalence testing as outlined by Vandenberg and Lance (2000) to discuss the beta and gamma change observed in this sample. In this presentation, we will discuss this approach in detail as well as present a more fine-grained method to understanding other mechanisms of change which might, on the surface, obscure researchers’ ability to observe alpha change.
Drawing on the alpha, beta, gamma approach, a typology of change developed to investigate organizational interventions, we suggest that change as a result of the work design intervention may occur through three mechanisms. First, change between pre-intervention and post-intervention might occur as an absolute difference in scale scores of work design constructs (i.e., alpha change). Second, change might manifest as a recalibration of respondents’ scales for assessing work design as a result of the interventions (i.e., beta change). Finally, change might emerge as a reconceptualization of the meaning attached to work design itself as a result of the interventions (i.e., gamma change). Interventions designed to change organizations more systemically, such as work design interventions, seem to inherently address the way that people define what the constructs mean to them (e.g., Riordan et al., 2001) – that is, participants in such interventions exhibit beta or gamma change.
Investigating absolute change in constructs through comparing scale scores across time points (e.g., pre-intervention and post-intervention) do not assess beta and gamma change. However, these alternative change mechanisms can be assessed through other means, such as using principles of measurement invariance testing. In this study, we propose applying the process for equivalence testing as outlined by Vandenberg and Lance (2000) to discuss the beta and gamma change observed in this sample. In this presentation, we will discuss this approach in detail as well as present a more fine-grained method to understanding other mechanisms of change which might, on the surface, obscure researchers’ ability to observe alpha change.
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Dr. Cheryl Yam is a Lecturer and Organisational Psychologist at the UWA School of Psychological Science. She obtained her PhD at the Centre for Transformative Work Design, Future of Work Institute at Curtin University, and her Masters in Industrial and Organisational Psychology at UWA.
With a keen interest in work design and other psychosocial hazards at the individual and organisational levels, Cheryl's main research interests aims to understand how psychosocial hazards in the workplace impact the mental health and well-being of workers.
