Cross-country evaluation of the ISSP Occupational Commitment Scale (ISSP-OCC): A valid scale across countries?

Abstract

The ISSP Occupational Commitment Scale (ISSP-OCC) is an ultra-short scale consisting of only two items. The scale aims to measure a person’s affective attachment to their occupation. It was developed for the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) Work Orientations module and has been used in Work Orientations II (ISSP 1997) and Work Orientations IV (ISSP 2015). The ISSP-OCC is available in 50 languages and has been administered in 38 countries. Using ISSP 2015 survey data, the present study aimed to investigate its psychometric properties and measurement invariance across countries to evaluate the quality of the scale. Our results indicate that the ISSP-OCC shows acceptable reliability and validity in 31 countries; we found evidence for convergent and criterion validity through correlations with other constructs such as organizational commitment, job satisfaction, and person–job fit. Measurement invariance testing showed that scalar invariance held across 22 countries—indicating that latent means in addition to (co)variances are comparable—and that metric invariance held across 31 countries. As the shortest available occupational commitment scale, the ISSP-OCC is suitable for national and international surveys with limited resources in time and length.