The structural validity and measurement invariance across gender of the Brief Corporate Entrepreneurship Assessment Instrument

Abstract

Background: Corporate entrepreneurial activity and innovation are presented as essential elements of organisational success, and gender diversity is often seen as an important variable in this context. The efficient measurement of these variables is essential to the management thereof. It is within this context that the Brief Corporate Entrepreneurship Assessment Instrument (BCEAI) was developed. Shorter instruments seem to be favoured by researchers and practitioners alike. However, little is known about the psychometric properties of the BCEAI, particularly regarding measurement invariance.

Aim: This study seeks to address the structural validity and measurement invariance for the BCEAI applied for men and women. The objective was to establish the utility of the instrument within the South African context, with specific emphasis on cross-gender comparisons.

Setting: Medium to large South African organisations, with more than 60 employees, were targeted for inclusion in the study. Once organisations indicated their willingness to participate, 60 employees per organisation were randomly selected to participate in the study.

Methods: Data on the BCEAI were captured and pairwise multi-group confirmatory factor analyses with robust maximum likelihood estimation were used to examine four levels of measurement invariance, as well as the equivalence of latent means pertaining to male and female respondents.

Results: Data were collected from 3180 employees representing 52 SouthAfrican organisations. The results support the structural validity of the BCEAI and demonstrate strict measurement invariance for the BCEAI across gender. Equivalence of latent means across gender was also supported.

Conclusion: These results reveal that the BCEAI mirrors the structure of the original instrument in the South African context and that BCEAI yields psychometrically equivalent scores among employees of both genders. Researchers and practitioners can therefore use the BCEAI with the knowledge that its theoretical structure is sound and can apply it with confidence when comparing male and female employees in the workplace.