Perceptual and archival measures of Miles and Snow's strategic types: a comprehensive assessment of reliability and validity.

Despite the widespread research use of Miles and Snow's typology of strategic orientations, there have been no systematic attempts to assess the reliability and validity of its various measures. The present work provides such an assessment using data collected at two points from over 400 organizations in the hospital industry. We examined dimensions of the typology using both perceptual self-typing and archival data from multiple sources. The results generally support predictions across a variety of measures. Implications for further testing and research are discussed.