The Working Conditions Questionnaire: cross-cultural validation and scale refinement in six Ibero-American countries

Abstract

Purpose

Working conditions constitute an important predictor of worker's wellbeing and, consequently, of organizational outcomes. The Working Conditions Questionnaire is derived from a theoretical framework in which working conditions within the organization are formulated as a triple relationship between the environment, the method and the individual. Previous studies have assessed the psychometric properties of this instrument, but its measurement invariance has not been evaluated before. In this context, this study's objective was to examine and validate the dimensionality of the questionnaire and to evaluate its measurement invariance across six Ibero-American countries.

Design/methodology/approach

Data collected from 7,404 professionals from Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico and Spain were analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis.

Findings

Construct validity and reliability were confirmed. Also, results allowed to propose a refined version of the instrument in Spanish and Portuguese and confirmed its measurement invariance across six Ibero-American countries.

Originality/value

The study extends the current research by demonstrating the cross-cultural applicability of this instrument, improving future research in these six Ibero-American countries.

Citation

Ochoa Pacheco, P. and Coello-Montecel, D. (2021), "The Working Conditions Questionnaire: cross-cultural validation and scale refinement in six Ibero-American countries", Employee Relations, Vol. 43 No. 5, pp. 1016-1028. https://doi.org/10.1108/ER-05-2020-0240