Publication Type

Journal Article

Version

acceptedVersion

Publication Date

4-2014

Abstract

In recent years, emotional intelligence and emotional intelligence measures have been used in a plethora of countries and cultures. This is also the case for the Wong and Law Emotional Intelligence Scale (WLEIS), highlighting the importance of examining whether the WLEIS is invariant across regions other than the Far Eastern region (China) where it was originally developed. This study investigated the measurement invariance (MI) of the WLEIS scores across two countries, namely Singapore (N= 505) and Belgium (N= 339). Apart from items measuring the factor use of emotion, the measurement structure underlying the WLEIS ratings was generally invariant across both countries as there was no departure from MI in terms of factor form and factor loadings. The scalar invariance model (imposing an identical threshold structure) was partially supported. Factor intercorrelations (not involving the factor use of emotion) were also identical across countries. These results show promise for the invariance of the WLEIS scores across different countries, yet warn of the non-invariance of the dimension use of emotion. Reducing the motivation-oriented nature of these items is in order to come to an exact model fit in cross-cultural comparisons.

Discipline

Industrial and Organizational Psychology | Organizational Behavior and Theory

Research Areas

Organisational Behaviour and Human Resources

Publication

Applied Psychology

Volume

63

Issue

2

First Page

223

Last Page

237

ISSN

0269-994X

Identifier

10.1111/j.1464-0597.2012.00513.x

Publisher

Wiley: 24 months

Copyright Owner and License

Authors

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1464-0597.2012.00513.x

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