Journal Article

The Construct Validity of the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale: Multisample and Longitudinal Evidence

Mauno, Saija, Hakanen, Jari, Seppälä, Piia, Schaufeli, Wilmar, Feldt, Taru, Tolvanen, Asko, Kinnunen, Ulla

2009

Overview

This study investigated the factor structure and factorial group and time invariance of the 17-item and 9-item versions of the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES; Schaufeli et al. (2002b) Journal of Happiness Studies 3:71–92). Furthermore, the study explored the rank-order stability of work engagement. The data were drawn from five different studies ( N  = 9,404), including a three-year longitudinal study ( n  = 2,555), utilizing five divergent occupational samples. Confirmatory factor analysis supported the hypothesized correlated three-factor structure—vigor, dedication, absorption—of both UWES scales. However, while the structure of the UWES-17 did not remain the same across the samples and time, the structure of the UWES-9 remained relatively unchanged. Thus, the UWES-9 has good construct validity and use of the 9-item version can be recommended in future research. Moreover, as hypothesized, Structural Equation Modeling showed high rank-order stabilities for the work engagement factors (between 0.82 and 0.86). Accordingly, work engagement seems to be a highly stable indicator of occupational well-being.

• Publisher: Springer Netherlands,Springer Nature B.V
• Subject: Behavior / Confirmatory factor analysis / Dentists / Discriminant analysis / Economics / Employment / Factor Analysis / Factor Structure / Happiness / Job Satisfaction / Longitudinal Studies / Occupational health / Personality and Social Psychology / Philosophy / Positive Psychology / Quality of Life Research / Quantitative psychology / Scales / Social Sciences / Structural equation modeling / Studies / Validation studies / Validity / Well being / Work Attitudes