Purpose This purpose of this empirical study is to develop and validate the Evidence-Based Management Source Utilisation Scale (EBM-SUS), a measure that captures the extent to which decision-makers draw on four core sources of evidence – scientific research, organisational data, professional expertise and stakeholder influence. The scale reflects both the use of individual sources (first-order factors) and an aggregated measure of overall utilisation (higher-order factor). Design/methodology/approach Two studies were conducted with leaders from the Maltese public service (voluntary participation). Study 1 (n = 202) used exploratory factor analysis to uncover the scales’ underlying factor structure. Study 2 (n = 227) used confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to validate the measurement model and to examine relationships with two theoretically related constructs: risk aversion and conscientious decision-making. Findings The EBM-SUS measures demonstrated robust psychometric properties. All items loaded as expected on their respective constructs, and the higher-order factor effectively captured the shared variance among the four sources, supporting convergent and discriminant validity. Concurrent validity was also established through significant associations with conscientious decision-making and risk aversion, aligning with theoretical expectations in the EBM literature. Originality/value This study introduces a validated instrument for assessing the utilisation of four core sources of evidence in decision-making. It enables future research on evidence use by decision-makers, opening up research on evidence-based decision-making and deepening inquiry into decision-making practices in organisational contexts.
Bezzina et al. (Fri,) studied this question.