An instrument for assessing lean service adoption

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop and empirically validate an instrument containing operational measures of lean service. The instrument is intended for use by both researchers and practitioners.Design/methodology/approach – The instrument was developed and validated in an iterative process between theoretical and empirical insights. Drawing on a wide selection of frequently cited papers on lean service, a preliminary list of items was generated. These items were then vetted through four steps in order to achieve high validity. Empirical refinement and validation included workshops and semi‐structured interviews with expert practitioners, as well as testing the instrument's ability to discriminate between high and low adoption of lean and portray changes during lean service adoption.Findings – The instrument contains 34 items that assess enablers of lean adoption, lean practices, and operational performance. Empirical validation suggested the instrument was able to discriminate between hig...

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