16 International Academic Research Journal of Business and Technology 1(2) 2015 Page 16-21 Assessing Convergent And Discriminant Validity Of Lean Production Constructs Rosman Bin Iteng 1 Shahimi Bin Mohtar 2 , Ahmad Shabudin Bin Ariffin 3 , Mohd Kamarul Irwan Bin Abdul Rahim 4 . 1,2,3,4 School of Technology Management and Logistics, COB, UUM. Corresponding email: rosman@uum.edu.my 1 Article Information Abstract Keywords Lean production, Construct validity, Convergent validity, Discriminant validity, Socio-Technical System Theory (STS). The primary purpose of this study is to empirically assess the convergent and disriminant validity of lean production constructs. Grounded by the Socio-technical System Theory (STS), this study formulates and examines a conceptual model of lean production practices. The study segregates lean production practices into two main dimensions, namely socially-oriented lean production and technically-oriented lean production. This study utilizes two hundred and five manufacturing companies, selected randomly from the Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers Directory. The study measures senior production or lean managers’ view of the lean production practices at their companies. Convergent validity and discriminant validity of the lean practices are assessed. INTRODUCTION Lean production has created a lot of attention in the manufacturing companies worldwide and in academic research since 1980s and it is also claimed to be the universal practices for the 21 st century (Womack, Jones and Roos 1990; Shah and Ward 2003, 2007; Liker 2004; Li et al. 2006; Matsui 2007; Pham et al. 2008). The nucleus of lean production philosophy lies on the premise that it has brought changes in management practices by enhancing customer satisfaction as well as improving organizational effectiveness and efficiency (Ferdousi and Ahmed 2009). Theoretically, lean production requires only half of the human effort in the factory, half of the manufacturing space, half of the investment tools, half of the engineering hours and half of the time to develop new products compared with the traditional mass production practices (Womack et al. 1990). Although lean production has received a lot of attention by academicians in recent years, the understanding on its content is still indefinite due to conflicting results reported. The inconsistencies of the previous research findings and the lack of empirical studies on lean production have triggered this study. The main aim of this study is to generate a valid and reliable survey instrument to measure lean production practices in the manufacturing companies, specifically in Malaysian manufacturing industry context. LITERATURE REVIEW Cua et al. (2001) and Shah and Ward (2003, 2007) define lean production practices as a set of activities undertaken by an organization to eliminate waste and respect for people. Meanwhile, Womack and Jones (1996) outline five fundamental principles of waste elimination in production, namely, (i) specify what does and does