TRANSLATION, ADAPTATION, VALIDITY AND RELIABILITY OF THE SENSE-MAKING SCALE: A CROSS-CULTURAL EVIDENCE FROM INDIA, MALAYSIA, ROMANIA AND TURKEY

® Elektronik Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi ® Electronic Journal of Social Sciences Ekim/October(2020) - Cilt/Volume:19 - Sayı/Issue:76 www.esosder.org ISSN:1304-0278 (1810-1848) TRANSLATION, ADAPTATION, VALIDITY AND RELIABILITY OF THE SENSE-MAKING SCALE: A CROSS-CULTURAL EVIDENCE FROM INDIA, MALAYSIA, ROMANIA AND TURKEY1 ANLAMLANDIRMA ÖLÇEĞİNİN ÇEVİRİSİ, UYARLAMASI, GEÇERLİLİK VE GÜVENİLİRLİĞİ: HİNDİSTAN, MALEZYA, ROMANYA VE TÜRKİYE'DEN KÜLTÜRLERARASI BİR KANIT Türker TUĞSAL2 Abstract The main object of this research is translation, adaptation, validity and reliability of the Sense-Making Scale’s Turkish version to English so as to be used in cross-cultural researches. Even though there are extensive studies which have been carried out on sense-making, any sense-making scale or questionnaire in the existing literature is not consistent and there is a gap that should be filled. The contribution of this research is to redound a sensemaking measurement tool in English. Firstly, the related literature is reiterated and a pilot study of translated scale is applied for validity and reliablity. After reliability is assured, the surveys are sent to 600 academicians in India, Malaysia, Romania and Turkey and 466 of the data are valid. The data fit to normal distribution. Cronbach's Alpha value is found reliable (0.763) and the variability of the scale is 61.257%. The first possible explanation for these results is being the first measurement tool about sense-making in English. The second implication of the study is; sense-making of signs such as action, discourse, diagnosis, facts orelse events may let people prevent from adverse, negative and unfavourable incidents such as accidents, chaoses or crises which may occur in times to come. Keywords: Sense-Making Scale, Scale Translation and Adaptation, Cross-Cultural Evidence, India, Malaysia, Romania and Turkey. Öz Bu araştırmanın temel amacı, Anlamlandırma Ölçeğinin Türkçe versiyonunun kültürlerarası araştırmalarda kullanılmak üzere geçerliliği, güvenirliği sağlanarak İngilizce versiyona uyarlanabilmesidir. Anlamlandırma üzerine yapılmış kapsamlı çalışmalar olmasına rağmen, İngilizce literatürde herhangi bir anlamlandırma ölçeği veya anketi bulunmamaktadır ve literatürde doldurulması gereken bir boşluk bulunmaktadır. Bu araştırmanın literatüre katkısı, İngilizce anlamlandırma ölçeği sunmaktır. İlk olarak, geçerlik ve güvenilirlik için çevirisi yapılan ölçeğin 66 akademisyenden oluşan katılımcıyla pilot çalışması uygulanmıştır. Geçerlik ve güvenilirlik sağlandıktan sonra Hindistan, Malezya, Romanya ve Türkiye'deki 600 akademisyene çevrimiçi anket e-posta ile gönderilmiştir ve 466 geçerli veri elde edilmiştir. Veriler normal dağılıma uymaktadır. Cronbach Alfa değeri güvenilir bulunmuştur (0.763) ve ölçeğin değişkenliği %61.257'dir. Bu sonuçlara göre; İngilizce olarak kullanılabilecek anlamlandırma ile ilgili ilk ölçüm aracı sağlanmaktadır. Çalışmanın ikinci önemi; eylem, söylem, tanı, gerçekler ya da diğer olaylar gibi işaretlerin anlamlandırılması; insanların gelecek zamanlarda meydana gelebilecek kaza, kaos ya da kriz gibi olumsuz ve istenmeyen olayları önlemesine izin verebilir. Anahtar Kelimeler: Anlamlandırma Ölçeği Uyarlaması, Hindistan, Malezya, Romanya ve Türkiye. 1 The survey permission was evaluated by the Publication Ethics Committee for the Social and Human Sciences of Beykent University and approved on 10/02/2019. 2 Assist. Prof. Dr., Beykent University, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, t.turker@gmail, Orcid: https://orcid.org/ 0000-0002-7585-4989. Makale Türü: Araştırma Makalesi – Geliş Tarihi: 29/03/2020 – Kabul Tarihi: 03/11/2020 DOI:10.17755/esosder.710803 Atıf için: Elektronik Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, 2020; 19(76) 1810-1848 Ekim/October(2020) – Cilt/Volume:19 – Sayı/Issue:76 (1810-1848) 1. Introduction Sense-making concept and the related studies are generally searched in organizational behavior field related with organizational communication and crisis communication. It is seen that various organizational issues related to the concept of sense-making are examined. In the current literature, including in different disciplines; integration of cultural sense-making (Dyer, 2017), the process of sense-making for adaptation of organizational settings (Ito and Inohara, 2015), sense-making in international affairs (Jakobsen, Worm & Li, 2018), sensemaking in developing markets (Kharchenkova, 2018), cognition, action and outputs (Mattsson, Corsaro & Ramos, 2015), strategic management accounting and sense-making (Tillmann & Goddard, 2008), financial crises and sense-making (Tuğsal, 2015), sense-making in business life (Tuğsal, 2016), crisis communication and sense-making (Xu, 2018). On the contrary, although there is a lot of research about sense-making in the existing literature; there is not any sense-making scale in English in social sciences and there is a significant gap to be filled. In this context, the attempt of this research is translation and adaptation of Turkish version of the Sense-Making Scale. In the existing literature there is a lot of research about sense-making. One exception is the study of Pakenham (2007) in medical science related to making sense of MS (Multiple Sclerosis) which is applied to determine the links of sense-making and adjustment outcomes. However it isn’t related with organizational behavior and the sample consists of MS people. It is seen that there has been only one sense-making scale in Turkish that has been developed (Tuğsal, 2019). The lack of a validated and reliable sense-making measurement tool in English that can be used in different cultures, besides the necessity of cross-cultural translation and adaptation makes this research significant. The term “scale” is defined by DeVellis (2012) to refer measuring instruments consisting of expressions aiming to measure the levels of cases with theoretical presence but not directly observed. Scales can be developed in two ways. The first way is to prepare a scale for self-culture. The second way is to adapt a measurement instrument developed in a foreign culture to native culture. One of the most important reasons for the need to conduct an international comparative scale development attempt is to consider what it means to prevailingly manage institutions in different cultures. Due to the fact that there have been cultural differences; translation of a scale from a foreign language may cause many possible faults related to reliability and validity of scale adaptation. In the literature, it is seen that scales are generally brought to cultures as a result of adaptation. In this context, the main goal of this study and its contribution to the literature is to adapt Tuğsal’s (2019) Sense-Making Scale. However, there is a specific methodology for scale development. Scale development studies are usually carried out by experimental or theoretical processes. Yurdugül (2005) describes the stages of the experimental process c (...truncated)