Validation study
For the validation, we compared the My Motivation Insights questionnaire to the Schwartz Value Survey (SVS; Schwartz, 1992). Several studies, on large samples in many countries, have shown that this questionnaire is valid, i.e. does indeed measure the intended concepts and can be used in all kinds of cultures (Schwartz & Bardi, 2001). Moreover, the SVS is also known to be related to work behaviour, not insignificant for an applied study in organisations (Schwartz, 1999; Smith, Peterson, & Schwartz, 2002).
Personality traits constitute stable personality characteristics that can predict differences in behaviour between individuals in a variety of settings. The five-factor model of personality, commonly referred to as the Big Five, is the most common model, not least because in all kinds of research these five factors repeatedly appear as the dimensions that can describe most differences in personality, including in the context of the organisation in which relationships with various aspects of employee behaviour have been shown (Barrick & Mount, 1991) and with working in teams and of teams as a whole (Barrick et a, 1998l).
During the initial validation process, the process was carried out in cooperation with the University of Amsterdam under the supervision of Dr Verkerk and Prof Willemse. We looked at both the internal consistency (measured by the Cronbach's Alpha) and the correlation of similar items between the My Motivation Insights, SVS and Big Five questionnaires. Cronbach's Alpha was seen to be high enough to use the My Motivation Insights questionnaire to predict the corresponding values (Cronbach's Alpha higher than 0.7). In subsequent studies, the Cronbach’s Alpha is measured on a yearly basis to check the internal validity. Correlation of similar items between the My Motivation Insights, SVS and Big Five questionnaires were seen to be in line with our expectation.
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