Translation and validation of psychological capital questionnaire

Abstract

The present study was conducted to translate the Psychological Capital Questionnaire (PCQ-24; Luthans, Avolio, Avey, & Norman, 2007) Urdu language and to establish the construct validity of the translated version. The study was completed in two phases. In the first phase, Urdu version of PCQ-24 was obtained after the forward and back translations as per the guidelines suggested by Brislin (1970). In the second phase, the Urdu version of PCQ-24 was validated which measures the construct of psychological capital. The sample comprised of 380 small business entrepreneurs (men = 270, women = 110), taken from Rawalpindi and Islamabad with age range of 18 to 50 years. For this instrument, two concurrent models were tested through confirmatory factor analysis; the first model analyzed was for a four-factor structure. In this model, four subscales of PCQ-24 including Self-efficacy, Hope, Resilience, and Optimism were taken as interrelated factors. While, the second model was a hierarchical model in which four subscales were loaded onto a latent factor of PsyCap. Results established that the four-factor structure of PsyCap showed better fit than the higher-order factor structure. Furthermore, PCQ-24 showed adequate construct validity and reliability after excluding three problematic items (i.e., no. 13, 20, & 23) which were found to cause poor model-fit and lower the reliabilities. Overall, the findings show that newly translated Urdu version of PCQ-24 is a reliable and a valid measure in Pakistani context.