Philippine E-Journals

Developing an Accountability Instrument

Jocelyn Linsao-ng

Discipline: Sociology, Business Management

 

Abstract:

This study is on constructing and validating an accountability instrument in relation to the attainment of key performance indicators in the food service industry. There is an increasing popularity of accountability in relation to productivity that makes it necessary to develop an instrument valid for the Filipino context.

The development of the instrument was in two stages, i.e., Construction and Validation. Perspectives of accountability came from two sources, i.e., review of related literature and responses of the target sample of the study in the 4-item open-ended questionnaire. Matrices were designed to present the gathered perspectives classified according to accountability and key performance indicators. An initial list of 160 statements was formulated. The statements were later short-listed to 51 statements.

There were two administrations; the instrument was given to different groups for the preliminary and final administration. The respondents in the preliminary validation were from dine-in with take-out food service companies, not part of the final administration’s target sample of this study. To determine content validity, 10 Judges rated the evaluation form. A summary of the Judges’ Evaluation showed that, all but one of the statements used for the preliminary administration of the instrument were valid for assessing accountability.

The responses from the final administration were analyzed in terms of validity and reliability indices. The instrument assessed what it claimed to assess, i.e., accountability as it relates to the attainment of key performance indicators. While the instrument is dependable and consistent in assessing accountability, further studies are recommended. Among them (a) the administration of the instrument to other industries, (b) the distribution of the statements to arrive at close to half the number of items per indicator, and (c) the development of different accountability instruments for the managers and the non-managerial levels.