scholarly journals Working Adults' Intentions to Participate in Microlearning: Assessing for Measurement Invariance and Structural Invariance

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shermain Puah ◽  
Muhammad Iskandar Shah Bin Mohmad Khalid ◽  
Chee Kit Looi ◽  
Ean Teng Khor

The current study set out to understand the factors that explain working adults' microlearning usage intentions using the Decomposed Theory of Planned Behaviour (DTPB). Specifically, the authors were interested in differences, if any, in the factors that explained microlearning acceptance across gender, age and proficiency in technology. 628 working adults gave their responses to a 46-item, self-rated, 5-point Likert scale developed to measure 12 constructs of the DTPB model. Results of this study revealed that a 12-factor model was valid in explaining microlearning usage intentions of all working adults, regardless of demographic differences. Tests for measurement invariance showed support for invariance in model structure (configural invariance), factor loadings (metric invariance), item intercepts (scalar invariance), and item residuals (strict invariance) between males and females, between working adults below 40 years and above 40 years, and between working adults with lower technology proficiency and higher technology proficiency levels. While measurement invariance existed in the data, structural invariance was only found across gender, not age and technology proficiency. We then assessed latent mean differences and structural path differences across groups. Our findings suggest that a tailored approach to encourage the use of microlearning is needed to suit different demographics of working adults. The current study discusses the implications of the findings on the use and adoption of microlearning and proposes future research possibilities.

2020 ◽  
pp. 003329412097263
Author(s):  
Meilin Di ◽  
Xinping Deng ◽  
Jingjing Zhao ◽  
Feng Kong

The aim of this study was to validate the Wong and Law Emotional Intelligence Scale (WLEIS) in Chinese adolescents by examining factor structure, sex-related measurement invariance and latent mean differences, reliability, and criterion-related validity.A total of 1674 Chinese adolescents aged 12–17 years old (Mage = 15.26, SD = .58) were recruited. Results of confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) supported the four-factor model of the WLEIS as the best fit to the data. Multi-group CFA suggested that the measurement structure of the WLEIS was invariant across sex. Testing for the latent mean differences showed that male adolescents scored lower on the Other-Emotional Appraisal subscale, but scored higher on the Regulation of Emotion subscale than female adolescents. Furthermore, all the subscales of male and female adolescents had satisfactory composite reliability. Finally, the WLEIS had favorable criterion-related validity with self-esteem, life satisfaction, positive affect, negative affect and perceived stress. These findings suggested that the WLEIS is a reliable and valid instrument for assessing trait emotional intelligence of adolescents and can be generalized across sex.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Victor Pollet ◽  
Alexandra Thompson ◽  
Connor Malcolm ◽  
Kris McCarty ◽  
Tamsin Saxton ◽  
...  

Background: High levels of loneliness are associated with negative health outcomes and there are several different types of intervention targeted at reducing feelings of loneliness. It is therefore important to accurately measure loneliness. A key unresolved debate in the conceptualisation and measurement of loneliness is whether it has a unidimensional or multidimensional structure. One of the most widely used scales to measure loneliness is the UCLA Loneliness Scale. The aim of this study was to examine the dimensional structure of this scale and establish whether this factorial structure is equivalent in men and women. Methods and Sample: Two online UK-based samples were recruited using Prolific. The participants in Study 1 were 492 adults, selected to be nationally representative by age and gender, whilst the participants in Study 2 were 290 older adults aged over 64. In both studies, participants completed the UCLA Loneliness Scale (version 3) as part of a larger project. Results: In both studies, the best fitting model was one with three factors corresponding to Isolation, Relational Connectedness and Collective Connectedness. A unidimensional single factor model was a substantially worse fit in both studies. In both studies, there were no meaningful differences between men and women in any of the three factors, suggesting measurement invariance across genders. Conclusion: The findings of this study are consistent with previous research in supporting a multidimensional, three factor structure to the UCLA scale, rather than a unidimensional structure. Further, the measurement invariance across genders suggests that the UCLA scale can be used to compare levels of loneliness across men and women. Overall the results suggest that loneliness has different facets and that people can be satisfied with some aspects of their social relationships (e.g. a wide circle of friends), whilst dissatisfied with others (e.g. lack of emotionally close relationships). Thus future research on loneliness should consider treating the UCLA loneliness scale as a multidimensional scale, or using other scales which are designed to measure the different aspects of loneliness.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Atefeh Rezaei ◽  
Mohsen Dehghani

Aggression is an important risk factor that predisposes adolescents to disruptive and criminal behaviours. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the structural invariance and psychometric properties of the Persian version of the Reactive-Proactive Aggression Questionnaire (RPQ) across genders among adolescents. A sample of 450 students (Mage = 14 years, SD = 0.81) was recruited randomly and completed the Persian version of the RPQ, Child Behavior Checklist and Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. Although the two-factor model obtained the best fit across genders, the results did not support the equivalence of factor loadings across groups. These findings replicated the distinction of reactive and proactive aggression while implied different models of the RPQ based on gender. Suggestions for future research and a more accurate assessment of these two kinds of aggression are further discussed.


2008 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 121-129 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lars-Olov Lundqvist ◽  
Pantelis Kevrekidis

Theories regarding susceptibility to emotional contagion, which address the ease of “catching” the emotions expressed by others, have recently received growing interest in the field of social psychology and health. Despite the theoretical and empirical importance, reliable and valid instruments to assess emotional contagion in men and women from cultures outside the English-speaking world are not well developed. The present study examines the psychometric properties and factor structure of the Greek adaptation of the Emotional Contagion Scale (ECS), and is a first attempt to test its measurement invariance across gender and culture groups (Greece and Sweden). Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) of competing models supports a five-factor model that includes the five basic emotions of anger, fear, sadness, happiness, and love. Using multiple-group CFA and a sequence of nested tests, configural invariance and partial metric and partial scalar invariance across gender and culture groups of the five-factor model were demonstrated. The results show that meaningful comparisons of ECS can be made across men and women from different cultures and support the hypothesis that susceptibility to emotional contagion operates at a differential emotions level.


2018 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 69-78 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jana Rogge ◽  
Ute Koglin ◽  
Franz Petermann

Abstract. The internal structure of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) has been widely discussed in the literature. The first purpose of this study was, therefore, to analyze the internal structure of the SDQ as completed by German parents and teachers. Parents and teachers of 1,135 children between the ages of 3 and 6 years in German daycare facilities were asked to complete the SDQ. Using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), we found that the original five-factor model with added correlations between items with similar content and allowing cross-loads of reverse-worded items to the prosocial behavior factor is the model that fits the data the best. Additionally, we found significant mean differences between parents and teachers in four of the five SDQ subscales. Nevertheless, to compare the scores across both groups, it is necessary that the SDQ measures social-emotional and behavioral difficulties for both parents and teachers in the same way. Hence, the second purpose of this study was to test for measurement invariance of the SDQ across both groups. Using multigroup confirmatory factor analysis (MGCFA), we found that strict measurement invariance is tenable. Therefore, the observed means of the SDQ scores from parents and teachers are readily comparable and interpretable.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Coşkun Erdağ

PurposeThe primary purpose of this study is to test the measurement invariance and the latent mean differences of the personal accountability measure (PAM) constructs.Design/methodology/approachObtained through the Turkish version of the PAM from a random sample of 453 teachers working in elementary and secondary schools in Aksaray province, data were analyzed using multigroup confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to test the measurement invariance and latent mean differences of the internal and external accountability constructs across gender, tenure, school grade and teacher branches, respectively.FindingsTeacher internal and external accountability constructs were demonstrated in this study to be fully equivalent across gender and tenure, and partially equivalent across school grade and teacher branches. Latent mean comparisons showed that less-experienced tenure teachers, class teachers and ESL teachers in Turkey felt more internally accountable compared to their peers in other groups. No significant latent mean differences of teacher external accountability were observed across genders, tenures, school types or teacher branches.Originality/valueThis study contributes to research by providing further valuable information on the equivalencies of the external and internal accountability constructs across gender, tenure, school grade and branch for future research studying multigroup comparisons and structural relationships of personal accountability constructs. It also provides school principals and policymakers with more accurate, multigroup comparisons of teacher external and internal accountability dispositions across gender, tenure, school grade and branch.


Author(s):  
Giulia Casu ◽  
Mónica Guzmán-González ◽  
Ricardo Espinoza-Tapia ◽  
Lusmenia Garrido-Rojas ◽  
Jaime Barrientos ◽  
...  

Gender differences in sexuality-related dimensions have long been investigated in close relationship research. An important assumption when comparing values across gender in dyadic research is that both partners conceptualize the construct under investigation in the same way. Thus, issues of measurement invariance should be considered when working with dyadic data. The aim of the present study was to test the dyadic invariance of the Positive Sexuality Scale (PSS) to assess an individual’s sense of happiness and fulfillment with his/her sexual expression. The PSS was completed by 166 Chilean heterosexual couples, and measurement invariance was tested using confirmatory factor analysis within a dyadic framework. Configural, metric, scalar, and partial strict measurement invariance were supported for the PSS original one-factor model. No between-partner difference was found in the PSS latent factor mean. The functioning of the PSS and the meaning attributed to positive sexuality were the same for both partners. Hence, variations in the PSS levels between both partners in heterosexual couples can be interpreted as true mean differences rather than measurement artifacts.


SAGE Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 215824402110613
Author(s):  
Juan Meng

This study aims at advancing leadership research in corporate communications by introducing a more rigorous statistical approach to test whether communication professionals of different hierarchical reporting levels, years of experience, and educational backgrounds would ascribe the same meanings to the construct of leadership excellence in corporate communications via survey research. By using an established measurement model of leadership excellence in corporate communications, the study uses three samples, including senior communication executives/leaders, mid-level communication professionals, and senior college students majoring in communication and/or public relations, to conduct the measurement invariance tests. By imposing constraints to different parameters in a sequence of nested models, findings indicate that the measures of leadership excellence in corporate communications can be equivalent across multiple groups. Measurement invariance was confirmed at multiple levels, including the higher-order measurement model, configural invariance, metric invariance, scalar invariance, and error invariance. This study deepens our understanding of measurement invariance when applying multi-group comparison in testing leadership excellence. Such evidence can also be used as central principles when developing corresponding leadership training and development modules by organizations in supporting multicultural and multi-group sensitivity in leadership development. Future research and practical implications are also discussed.


2019 ◽  
Vol 35 (6) ◽  
pp. 771-778 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernhard Piskernik ◽  
Barbara Supper ◽  
Lieselotte Ahnert

Abstract. While parenting research continues to compare similarities and differences in mothers’ and fathers’ behaviors based on mean values on the respective dimensions, measurement invariance as a prerequisite for these comparisons has seldom been assured. The present study thus subjected the well-known Parenting Stress Index (PSI), widely used in models of family functioning, to a rigorous measurement invariance analysis based on ( N = 214) Austrian couples with children younger than 3 years of age. We evaluated configural, metric, scalar, and uniqueness invariance on item and subscale levels, and tested for structural invariance of means and variances of the PSI parent and child domain by second-order confirmatory factor analyses. As a result, only measurement differences on the scalar levels affected the factor scores, though negligibly. On the structural levels, no differences were found on the PSI child domain across parents, but on the PSI parent domain, mothers reported more stress.


2009 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jörg-Tobias Kuhn ◽  
Heinz Holling

The present study explores the factorial structure and the degree of measurement invariance of 12 divergent thinking tests. In a large sample of German students (N = 1328), a three-factor model representing verbal, figural, and numerical divergent thinking was supported. Multigroup confirmatory factor analyses revealed that partial strong measurement invariance was tenable across gender and age groups as well as school forms. Latent mean comparisons resulted in significantly higher divergent thinking skills for females and students in schools with higher mean IQ. Older students exhibited higher latent means on the verbal and figural factor, but not on the numerical factor. These results suggest that a domain-specific model of divergent thinking may be assumed, although further research is needed to elucidate the sources that negatively affect measurement invariance.


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