Work Engagement in India: Psychometric Evaluation of Utrecht Work Engagement Scale

Abstract

This paper aims to analyse the psychometric properties of Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES) as developed by Schaufeli et al. (2002) in an India sample. It analyses two models of work engagement i.e. one-factor model, where work engagement is considered as a single construct and three-factor model, which considers three aspects of engagement (vigour, dedication and absorption) of both 17-item UWES and shortened version 9-item UWES. Psychometric properties including factor validity and internal consistency were assessed by an empirical study of 100 employees working in information technology companies in India. The results of confirmatory factor analysis reveal that for India, 9-item UWES and single construct work engagement scale is better than the three factor model. The study further revealed that internal consistency of complete scale was found to be consistent than the three sub-scales for both 9-item UWES and original 17-item UWES. The present study provides an insight as to which measure of UWES works better in context to India.