Validation of a Short and Generic Qualitative Job Insecurity Scale (QUAL-JIS)
Gabriel Fischmann, Hans De Witte, Coralia Șulea, Tinne Vander Elst, Nele De Cuyper, Dragoş Iliescu
Abstract
Abstract. The Qualitative Job Insecurity Scale (QUAL-JIS) has been used in job insecurity (JI) research for the past 9 years, without formal validation. The goal of the current study was to test the scale’s psychometric properties. We checked the scale’s reliability, as well as its validity, investigating evidence based on the scale’s content, internal structure, and relations to other variables (convergent and discriminant, predictive and concurrent, as well as incremental predictive evidence). We additionally evaluated its cross-country and longitudinal invariance over three measurement times (6 months apart) in two countries (Romania and Belgium; N RO = 388, N BE = 1,992). We found evidence for the scale’s reliability and validity, QUAL-JIS showing partial scalar invariance across time and between the two countries. Interestingly, qualitative JI measured with QUAL-JIS explained additional variance in the employees’ need for recovery above and beyond another popular qualitative JI scale.