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Cross‐culture and gender invariance of the Warr (1990) job‐related well‐being measure
Author(s) -
Laguna Mariola,
Mielniczuk Emilia,
Razmus Wiktor,
Moriano Juan Antonio,
J. Gorgievski Marjan
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
journal of occupational and organizational psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.257
H-Index - 114
eISSN - 2044-8325
pISSN - 0963-1798
DOI - 10.1111/joop.12166
Subject(s) - psychology , operationalization , measurement invariance , confirmatory factor analysis , anxiety , social psychology , affect (linguistics) , context (archaeology) , job satisfaction , psychometrics , structural equation modeling , statistics , developmental psychology , mathematics , philosophy , epistemology , communication , psychiatry , paleontology , biology
The job‐related affective well‐being measure developed by Warr (1990, J. Occup. Psychol ., 63 , 193) has been a frequently used tool estimating affect in the work context. The main purpose of this study was to test the measurement invariance of the instrument across cultures and genders. The model with four correlated factors, representing anxiety, comfort, depression, and enthusiasm, had a superior fit compared to alternative models in a sample of 807 employees and was used as the basis of measurement invariance tests. The results of multigroup confirmatory factor analysis showed partial metric invariance across samples of employees from the Netherlands ( n = 254), Poland ( n = 436), and Spain ( n = 207), as well as full scalar invariance across genders (female n = 323; male n = 466). This indicates that cross‐cultural comparisons of relationships between job‐related affect as measured with this instrument and other constructs can be meaningful. Additionally, mean scores on the scales of the instrument can be meaningfully compared across genders, but not across countries. Practitioner points Warr's job‐related affective well‐being measure is a valid and reliable operationalization of four correlated affective dimensions: anxiety, comfort, depression, and enthusiasm. Mean scores on these dimensions can be meaningfully compared across genders, but comparisons of mean scores between countries should be interpreted with caution.