In 2008, Winston et al. published "An Instrument to Measure the Impact of Hope in Strategic Plan Implementation." Snyder (2000) suggested that hope is the only factor that influences positive outcomes related to employee expectations. Other theories, such as expectancy theory, value chain theory, and faith, were thought to influence outcomes. In contrast, research by Winston et al. (2008) suggested that faith be removed from the list of factors that define hope. Thus, the purpose of this dissertation was to determine to what extent the instrument was concurrently and discriminantly valid and reliable. The sample population included higher education institutions because, as documented by Degn (2015), higher education institutions implement strategic plans to remain competitive in the marketplace. Employees of higher education institutions tasked to implement a strategic plan within the past 5 years completed an initial electronic survey. This survey comprised of "An Instrument to Measure the Impact of Hope in Strategic Plan Implementation" by Winston et al., "Hope Theory" by Snyder et al., and "Organizational Citizenship Behaviors" by de Jong et al. Two weeks later, the participants completing the initial survey were asked to complete the Winston et al. instrument again. Results showed no relationship with the Snyder et al. "Hope Scale" and a positive relationship with the de Jong et al. "Organizational Citizenship Behavior Scale - Adapted." The Winston et al. instrument did show strong statistical test-retest reliability. This finding suggested that more research is needed to examine the value chain and expectancy theory portions of the scale by Winston et al. to establish concurrent validity. Such research is crucial because organizations cannot effectively utilize the Winston et al. tool to determine the relationship between hope and strategic plan implementation. Understanding this relationship is valuable to organizations because Snyder et al. (1991b) suggested that those with high hope also have a high likelihood of high performance. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com.bibliotheek.ehb.be/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]