The Development and Validation of a Short Form of a Multidimensional Self-Concept Measure for High Technology Employees

Abstract

For a sample of 162 employees in a major electronics/computer company, evidence is presented concerning the reliability and construct validity of six 15-item scales in a shortened form of a measure entitled Dimensions of Self-Concept-Form W (DOSC-W). For the six scales of Level of Aspiration, Anxiety, Job Interest and Satisfaction, Leadership and Initiative, Identification versus Alienation, and Job Stress, representing the names hypothesized for the six underlying constructs of the DOSC-W, internal-consistency reliabilities ranged from .86 to .92, and intercorrelations among them varied between -.40 and .53. Orthogonal and oblique exploratory factor analyses of 18 subtests (three 5-item subtests for each factor scale) provided highly similar 6-factor solutions with clearly evident simple structure lending support to the validity of the six constructs. Confirmatory maximum likelihood factor analyses showed that among many alternative models, the 6-factor oblique model afforded the best fit in terms of accounting for the largest proportion of covariance.