Factorial Validation of the UNIPSICO Questionnaire of scales measuring demand at work for Chilean technology companies

Abstract

The objective was to analyze the psychometric properties of the scales associated with the psychosocial factors of demand that are included in the UNIPSICO Questionnaire of a group of Chilean workers. The sample consisted of 655 workers from Chilean technology transfer companies, where 55.6 % were men, 41.3 % of the participants were between 25 and 34 years old, and 61.8 % of the workers had been in the organization for a maximum of four years. The sampling was carried out in a group of workers who worked in person and another remotely. The data collection was carried out through the UNIPSICO Questionnaire in its five scales associated with psychosocial factors of demand at work (26 items) that are grouped into: Interpersonal Conflicts (with five items, which is defined as the perception of the frequency with which the conflicts arise). coexistence with the organization's management, colleagues, supervisors, internal clients and external clients if applicable to the position), Inequity in social exchanges (with 5 items, defined as the perception of lack of justice in the organization), Role conflict (with five items that is defined as the perception that the person has of situations that cannot simultaneously satisfy their expectations with the role they have in the organization), Role ambiguity (refers to the perception of the uncertainty that the worker has regarding its function (generally explained by the lack of communication, it has five items) and finally, Workload (with six items that refer to the perception of load, either quantitative or qualitative, the first referring to the number of activities associated with work and the second to how difficult it can be to perform them.) Item analysis, construct validity through confirmatory factor analysis, confidence analysis was performed. reliability according to Cronbach's alpha and predictive validity with linear regression. Regarding the results, all the items presented adequate values of asymmetry and reliability of the item, only the item “I know what the responsibilities at work are” does not meet the expected criteria. The five scales present values of asymmetry within the interval +/-1. The hypothetical factorial model of five factors presented an inadequate adjustment of the data in the first instance (GFI = .900, NNFI = .858, CFI = .897, RMSEA = .058). After correcting five covariances through the modification indices (items 3 and 4 of Role conflict; item 4 and 5 of Workload; item 1 and 5 of Interpersonal conflicts; item 2 and 5 of Workload and finally, item 3 and 4 of Interpersonal conflicts), adequate values were obtained for the associated indicators (GFI = .923, NNFI = .897, CFI = .937, RMSEA = .046). The five scales have Cronbach's alpha reliability values greater than .70. In the regression models, all the variables were significant predictors of psychosomatic problems, with the exception of role ambiguity, which obtained a significance greater than expected. Based on these results, it can be concluded that the five scales are valid and reliable for evaluating the psychosocial factors of job demand.